Global Health Security at the Crossroads

• Date: 01 March 2017
• Author: Edward Septimus,Otmar Kloiber,Bonnie Stabile,Arnauld Nicogossian
• Published date: 01 March 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.219

Editorial

Global Health Security at the Crossroads

Arnauld Nicogossian, Bonnie Stabile, Otmar Kloiber, and Edward Septimus

Between 2000 and 2016, several new and emerging infections created

signif‌icant global socioeconomic challenges to health security. Many infections,

such as inf‌luenza, SARS, MERS, XDR-TB, and others, still threaten many people

and communities globally.

On November 18, 2016, based on advice from its Emergency Committee (EC),

the WHO Director-General declared the end of the Zika virus as a Public Health

Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Thus Zika virus, or disease, is now

joining the many other infections, including yellow fever and antimicrobial drug

resistance, in the category of serious health threats.

The United States has been, and continues to be, one of the major contributors

to the world humanitarian effort in the f‌ight for human health and security,

partnering with other nations to reduce human suffering and interdicting the

spread of infections. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the U.S. Army

invested signif‌icant resources to develop vaccines against yellow fever and other

infections and minimize the spread of vector-borne infections. The effective US

Leadership Against HIV/AIDS,Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003,andthe“Tom

Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/ AIDS,

Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008”re-authorizingupto$48 billion

over 5 years, provided much-needed resources to combat global HIV/AIDS,

tuberculosis, and malaria. This Act is the cornerstone of the U.S. Global Health

Initiative, which provides, on average, USD 10 billion annually to assist other

countries in the f‌ight against many invasive diseases. Additional funding to support

the f‌ight against antimicrobial drug resistance, Ebola, and Zika have been approved

by the U.S. government. On November 4, 2016, an executive order was issued by

President Barack Obama to further strengthen the f‌ight against the spread of

infections. Section 1 of this executive order notes that, “as articulated in the

National Strategy for Countering Biological Threats and Implemented in Presiden-

tial Policy Directive 2 (PPD-2), promoting global health security is a core tenet of

our national strategy for countering biological threats,” (White House, 2016) as is

World Medical & Health Policy, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2017

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1948-4682 #2017 Policy Studies Organization

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