The U.S. has collaborated with 26 other nations and launched a new initiative that would help prevent, detect and combat dangerous, infectious disease outbreaks around the world.
On Thursday, February 13, the Global Health Security Agenda was announced by the officials. It is a priority for the nations as several countries do not have the necessary infrastructure to detect a new infection quickly and avert the same before it becomes rampant and spreads to other countries. Representatives from the participating countries, the WHO and other groups convened on Thursday in Washington to discuss the plans.
According to Kathleen Sebelius, the Health and Human Services Secretary, germs "do not recognize or stop at national borders" and that "a threat anywhere is indeed a threat everywhere." What raises concerns is that less than 20 percent of the countries are equipped to respond to emerging infections per Sebelius.
The Global Health Security Agenda initiative is an indirect recognition of the fact that a majority of countries are not equipped to even detect disease outbreaks, let alone containing them. The failure to do so poses a global threat and, therefore, needs to be addressed.
Contagious diseases have been a growing concern of late. In 2013, China warned the world of a new type of bird flu (HN79) that was making people ill. A new respiratory virus that was potentially deadly emerged in the Middle East in 2012 along with the detection of some older diseases to new locations, like the appearance of chikungunya virus in the Caribbean.
Per Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, new diseases are but a plane ride away.
"There are too many blind spots around the world," Frieden told reporters.
The Global Health Security Agenda will persevere to combat outbreaks irrespective of whether they are natural, accidental or intentional (in the event of a biological weapon use).
Apart from the U.S., other countries participating in the initiative include Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, Uganda, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.
Per the program, the U.S. along with partner countries will persevere to give a boost to the monitoring of local diseases, aid in the development of tests for different types of pathogens, as well as help countries develop and strengthen systems that will report and respond to public health emergencies.
