Global Health Security

About Global Health Security

The Global Health Security Agenda GHSA was launched in February 2014 by the United States and approximately 30 partner countries. The GHSA aims to strengthen global capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats. The West African Ebola outbreak, recognised shortly after the launch, underscored the gaps the initiative aimed to address. GHSA focuses on 11 action packages including antimicrobial resistance, zoonotic disease, biosafety, immunization, laboratory systems, surveillance, reporting, workforce development, emergency operations, linking public health and law enforcement, and medical countermeasures and personnel deployment. The GHSA uses the Joint External Evaluation JEE tool to assess country capacity. The US committed 1 billion over 5 years to GHSA during the Obama administration. Funding continued under the Trump administration despite proposed budget cuts. GHSA facilitated rapid information sharing during COVID 19 but was insufficient to prevent the pandemic. The GHSA demonstrates the value but also the limitations of voluntary international health security frameworks.