The U.S. has joined 26 other countries in a collaborative effort to improve the detection, prevention and response to infectious disease outbreaks around the world. But as nations begin to pledge resources toward protecting as many as 4 billion people from infectious diseases over the next five years, questions remain about how the initiative will differ from past efforts that have fallen short.
The U.S. commitment will involve a joint effort between HHS and other federal departments, including Agriculture, Defense and State that will work with partner countries to build their global health-security capabilities. Work will include improving disease surveillance; accelerating detection and response to slow the spread of antimicrobial resistance; establishing national biosecurity systems; reducing zoonotic disease transmission; increasing routine immunizations; and developing public health electronic-reporting systems and emergency operation centers. These efforts aim to enable countries to detect at least five of the most deadly organisms throughout at least 80% of their country.