Biological threats—natural, intentional, or
accidental—in any country can pose risks to global
health, international security, and the worldwide
economy. Because infectious diseases know no borders,
all countries must prioritize and exercise the capabilities required to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to
public health emergencies. Every country also must be
transparent about its capabilities to assure neighbors it
can stop an outbreak from becoming an international
catastrophe. In turn, global leaders and international
organizations bear a collective responsibility for developing and maintaining robust global capability to counter
infectious disease threats. This capability includes ensuring that financing is available to fill gaps in epidemic and
pandemic preparedness. These steps will save lives and
achieve a safer and more secure world.
The Global Health Security (GHS) Index is the first comprehensive assessment and benchmarking of health security
and related capabilities across the 195 countries that make up the States Parties1
to the International Health Regulations (IHR [2005]).2
The GHS Index is a project of the
Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and the Johns Hopkins
Center for Health Security (JHU) and was developed with
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). These organizations
believe that, over time, the GHS Index will spur measurable changes in national health security and improve
international capability to address one of the world’s most
omnipresent risks: infectious disease outbreaks that can
lead to international epidemics and pandemics.
The GHS Index is intended to be a key resource in the
face of increasing risks of high-consequence3
and globally
catastrophic4 biological events and in light of major gaps
in international financing for preparedness. These risks
are magnified by a rapidly changing and interconnected
world; increasing political instability; urbanization; climate
change; and rapid technology advances that make it easier,
cheaper, and faster to create and engineer pathogens.
Authors
- Published in
- United States of America