The Biden-Harris Administration has underscored its commitment to global health security by releasing the annual report, “Progress and Impact of U.S. Government Investments in Global Health Security.”
This report details the Administration’s robust actions to advance the National Biodefense Strategy and Implementation Plan, emphasizing pandemic preparedness and global health security.
The United States, recognizing the severe impacts of infectious diseases on health, economies, and societies worldwide, collaborates with nations globally to enhance their capacity for preventing, detecting, responding to, and recovering from public health threats.
The Administration aims to demonstrate the impact of these efforts by showcasing the annual report, providing insights into the outcomes of U.S. investments in global health security.
Key objectives include supporting at least 50 countries directly by 2025 to strengthen regional, national, and local capacities in critical areas related to infectious disease threats. The focus areas include prevention, detection, and response capabilities, aligning with the International Health Regulations (IHR) and the 2024 Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) targets.
In 2022, the U.S. expanded bilateral global health security support to 25 partner countries, including Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, and others. These partnerships aim to enhance disease surveillance, biosafety, emergency operations, and legal preparedness.
Employing a whole-of-government approach, the United States has allocated nearly $800 million in bilateral support for Fiscal Year 2022, representing a significant increase from the previous year. This investment supports various agencies, including the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Agency for International Development, and U.S. Department of Defense.
The annual report highlights tangible outcomes from partner country activities in Fiscal Year 2022. Notably, seven partner countries demonstrated enhanced capacity across technical areas, with an additional six nearing this goal. Progress has been observed in strengthening zoonotic disease control, national laboratory capacity, emergency preparedness, and risk communication.
The Biden-Harris Administration emphasizes the need for global collaboration in health security and aims to encourage more commitments from allies, donors, and partners. Efforts include extending multilateral initiatives such as GHSA, supporting the Pandemic Fund at the World Bank, and working towards G7 goals for pandemic readiness.
The Administration also seeks to strengthen the global health security architecture, including engaging in negotiations to amend the International Health Regulations (IHR) and develop a Pandemic Accord.
The demonstrated capacity is measured by achieving a level four on the World Health Organization (WHO) Joint External Evaluation (JEE) scale or 80 percent achievement on the WHO’s International Health Regulations Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (IHR MEF), or a comparable level on other appropriate health security assessments.
