Launched in February 2014, the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) is a growing partnership of over 75 nations, international organisations, and non-governmental stakeholders. The GHSA began with an initial five year global plan to help advance a world safer and more secure from infectious disease threats and to elevate global health security as a national and global priority.
The GHSA facilitates collaborative capacity-building efforts to support countries accelerate the development and maintenance of the core capacities required under the World Health Organization's (WHO's) International Health Regulations (IHR), the World Organization of Animal Health's (OIE) Performance of Veterinary Services Pathway, and other relevant global health security frameworks. In the initial phase (2014-2018), the GHSA has made significant progress toward sustained health security capacity in many countries across the world. It has played a major role in initiating and implementing a number of strategic frameworks to improve countries’ capacity to deal with potential outbreaks of infectious diseases and other threats to global health security. It has helped galvanise global support and commitments from both governmental and non-governmental stakeholders at global, regional and national levels.
At the 2017 GHSA Ministerial Meeting in Uganda, the Kampala Declaration was adopted to extend the GHSA’s mandate for an additional five years (to 2024). The GHSA 2024 Framework As part of the effort to deal more effectively with the current and future challenges in global health security, the GHSA Steering Group has been working to develop a framework for the next five years of GHSA, better known as “GHSA 2024.”
The GHSA 2024 framework aims to help health security stakeholders across the world to develop and implement the best possible policies and strategies to ensure the achievements of their health security goals and targets until 2024.
One important element in the framework is the overarching target for GHSA 2024 that outlines what GHSA aspires to achieve through its collective efforts by the end of its five-year term. A copy of the GHSA 2024 Framework is available on the GHSA website. Australia's role Steering Group and Secretariat From January 2019, Australia will be a rotating member of the GSHA Steering Group, along with Argentina, Canada, Finland, Netherlands and the World Bank.
Australia’s representative on the Steering Committee is Robin Davies, Head of the Centre for Health Security. Australia also provides the Secretariat of the GHSA, in collaboration with Indonesia and the Netherlands.
Action Packages Action Packages are working groups led by technical experts from GHSA member countries and partners, who work collaboratively to develop and implement initiatives to implement the International Health Regulations (2005).
Australia is an active member of three action packages under the GHSA. We work with the action packages for: Biosafety and Biosecurity (led by Portugal), represented by the CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory. Anti-Microbial Resistance (led by the United Kingdom), represented by the Commonwealth Department of Health. Financing for Preparedness (led by the United States), represented by the Centre for Health Security.