On November 16, President Barack Obama announced that the United States and 30 countries have made a commitment to work together to achieve the targets of the Global Health Security Agenda. Together, we will partner with the 30 other nations to develop global capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to future disease outbreaks. The U.S. Mission to the United Nations Agencies in Rome welcomes this announcement.
Infectious disease outbreaks, whether natural, intentional, or accidental, are still among the foremost dangers to human health and the global economy. With patterns of global travel and trade, disease can spread nearly anywhere within 24 hours. Globally, infectious diseases account for a billion human cases per year, leading to millions of deaths.
To advance Global Health Security Agenda objectives, the U.S. Government will work with the governments of the 30 nations and their ministries of health, agriculture, livestock, environment, rural development, and economic development, as well as through other stakeholders, to build five-year country roadmaps. These roadmaps are intended to identify specific milestones, next steps, and gaps toward achieving capacity needed to prevent, detect, and respond to biological threats and to help facilitate better understanding across sectors and among implementing partners.
“The science is clear enough. The economics are clear enough. And history is clear,” said David Lane, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies in Rome. “The spread of infectious diseases pose a global menace and presents serious public health, economic and development concerns. The United States welcomes this opportunity to collaborate with our partners to prevent, detect and rapidly respond to infectious disease threats.”
This new collaboration builds on the commitment of the U.S. Government to develop partnerships and the capacity to respond to prevent, detect, and respond to pandemics and further amplifies the U.S. investment of more than $1 billion in resources to expand the GHSA announced in July 2015.
The 30 partner countries of the United States are: Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Laos, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Pakistan, Peru, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Ukraine, and Vietnam. In addition, we plan to partner with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to strengthen regional capacity.
