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Today’s deeply interconnected world greatly heightens the trans-border risk of infectious disease. The spread of Ebola in 2015 illustrates this vulnerability while revealing that many countries are ill-prepared to prevent, detect, assess, notify and respond to infectious disease outbreaks. Although national governments are charged with the responsibility of safeguarding the health of their citizens, these responsibilities are embedded in a web of international standards, norms, and commitments. Recently, there has been a push for the World Health Organization to facilitate the development and implementation of international legal frameworks to address trans-border health concerns. The International Health Regulations (IHR), which came into force in 2007, is one such legally binding agreement that aims to standardize disease surveillance, reporting, and response among the 196 national governments who are members. Despite enthusiasm surrounding the potential for IHR to strengthen the global response to infectious disease outbreaks, as of 2016, only 33% State Parties have fully implemented the IHR core obligations. The low levels of implementation point to the need to better understand the relationship between governments and these international institutions. In exploring this relationship, we argue that geopolitical, cultural and economic factors are of paramount importance. Our study engages with international relations theory to understand the factors that shape IHR implementation in India. Our approach seeks to gain a local understanding of the relationship between India and the global political economy, the meaning India assigns to IHR commitments, and the notion of global health security more broadly. We are using a combination of qualitative interviewing and ethnographic methods to examine how decision-makers engage with IHR commitments in India.

SRIKANTH REDDY BIOGRAPHY

SrikanthReddy is a medical anthropologist withresearchinterests and training in global health policy, governance, and diplomacy. Currently, at Ï㽶ÊÓƵ he is researching on the political economy of global health, global health security, and applying institutional theories to health policyresearch. Earlier, he received postdoctoralresearchtraining in global health governance and global health diplomacy at the Global Health Centre, the Graduate Institute, Geneva.