Human security remains a contested concept among scholars. Yet it is attractive to policymakers because it provides a template for practical action. On public health, for example, human security implies policies for correcting state shortcomings in protecting people against the most commonly prevalent and infectious diseases. In Darfur, while 35,000 people have been killed directly in the fighting, 10,000 have died every month from malnutrition and disease.
Health and security converge at three intersections. Faced with domestic economic crises and shrinking foreign assistance, many developing countries have had to make difficult budgetary choices to reduce the level of public services. The failure of governments to provide the basic public-health services, including garbage removal, water treatment and sewage disposal, has two further consequences. It erodes governmental legitimacy, and encourages selfish strategies among citizens at the expense of the public interest. Often the competition degenerates into violence.
Second, there has been an increasing trend in recent internal armed conflicts to manipulate the supplies of food and medicine. Indeed the struggle to control food and medicine can define the war strategies of some of the conflict parties.