In 2018, the U.S. Government and multilateral partners re-confirmed their commitments to the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) which was originally launched in 2014. GHSA is a global partnership of nations, international organizations, and non-governmental stakeholders to help build countries’ capacity to help create a world safe and secure from infectious disease threats and elevate global health security (GHS) as a national and global priority. GHSA pursues a multilateral and multi-sectoral approach to strengthen both the global capacity and nations’ capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to human and animal infectious diseases threats whether naturally occurring or accidentally or deliberately spread.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a primary implementer of the US Government’s commitment to the GHSA, and joins others in the USG such as, the Department of Defense (DOD), National Security Council (NSC), Department of State (DOS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and others to support countries in achieving progressive capacity level gains in priority GHSA Action Packages.

USAID’s GHSA program is building health security capacities across focus countries. The program includes addressing zoonotic diseases (those which emanate from animals) and improving animal health services using what is called a One Health approach. This approach integrates the efforts of the human health, animal health, and environmental sectors.