Press Conference

The Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI) originated in October 2001, at the international symposium of the Commonwealth Fund in Washington, D.C., under the leadership of former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy G. Thompson. In the aftermath of the events of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent anthrax attacks, then-Secretary Thompson called for the establishment of a regular, formal opportunity for the Health Ministers of the major industrialized nations and our immediate neighbors to meet and exchange ideas.

The GHSI members are the Ministers of Health from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom; the Secretaries of Health from Japan, México, and the United States; the Health Commissioner of the European Union (EU); and the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The GHSI provides a global forum for high-level discussion and coordination of public health emergency-preparedness and response policies. The overarching purpose of the GHSI is increasing preparedness among its members to address health-related threats to global security, such as nuclear, chemical, or radiological terrorist attacks and outbreaks of infectious diseases.

GHSI convenes a Ministerial Meeting annually; all seven of the other GHSI Member States have hosted a Ministerial. The U.S. Government is set to host the eighth Ministerial Meeting on November 1 and 2, 2007. The GHSI develops and implements policy and concrete actions through its staff-level steering committee, the Global Health Security Action Group (GHSAG), composed of policy-makers and technical experts from GHSI member countries, which convenes twice a year. GHSAG has established technical International Working Groups (IWG) to accomplish action items agreed upon by the Health Ministers, delineated in post-summit Ministerial Communiqués. The IWGs meet as needed throughout the year.

The event will be the first U.S.-hosted GHSI Ministerial, and will represent the highest-profile ministerial summit HHS has ever hosted. Secretary Leavitt will welcome the other seven GHSI Ministers, along with the EU Health Commissioner and the Director-General of the WHO. Senior officials and policy and technical experts from GHSI Member States and Organizations will accompany their principals.

For more information, visit http://www.ghsi.ca and http://www.fic.nih.gov