**1. Introduction**

Since December 2019, the world experienced one of the most traumatic global events in modern history – the emergence of a devastating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that continues its ravages more than 18 months later [1, 2]. Such once-in-a-generation or even once-in-a-century events have profound impact on our perception of the global *status quo*, and are a testament to the overwhelming and humbling power of nature over man [3]. Inherent to any pandemic-related considerations is the impact of the recent events on international health security (IHS) – a complex and highly heterogenous area under the broader umbrella of health sciences [4]. Not only does the pandemic affect us directly via the harm inflicted by a merciless and impersonal pathogen, it also exposes numerous weaknesses and blind spots across various domains of our society's operating fabric – from critical supply chains, to mass transportation, to civil unrest, to healthcare system inefficiencies [5, 6]. Key concepts discussed in this chapter (and the book) are outlined in a word cloud format (**Figure 1**).

**Figure 1.** *Composite word cloud depicting key terms and dominant concepts in the current book.*
