Beyond COVID-19: What Global Health Security Will Look Like

Ethiopian health officer inspects medicine supply levels. Photo credit: Gonzalo Guajardo for Communication for Development Ltd.

Ethiopian health officer inspects medicine supply levels. Photo credit: Gonzalo Guajardo for Communication for Development Ltd.

When the United States Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken laid out the Biden Administration’s diplomatic plans on March 3, the first item was to “stop COVID-19 and strengthen global health security.” Experts have long warned about pandemics, but countries often failed to make it a top priority.

While COVID-19 may change that, there needs to be an understanding that global health security is a bigger issue than any one pandemic, and too narrow a focus could lead to failure. Leaders may want to consider three additional items as they develop their strategies to prepare for such health threats: other diseases, social determinants of health, and logistics.

The full op-ed, published by Devex, can be accessed here.