Hey all,
Just wanted to give you an optimistic update on the global health front. A little over a week ago, Secretary of State John Kerry announced the Global Health Security Agenda. Involving twenty-six countries, various departments of the U.S. government, and American global health organizations, the GHSA is an international effort to improve prevention, reduction, and response techniques to pandemics. Despite the existence of effective antibiotics, the leading cause of mortality worldwide is still infections--bacterial,viral, parasitic--leading to one-third of all deaths. What was equally alarming to me was that the GHSA is also a response to the increasing threat of not only natural outbreaks of disease and the rise of drug-resistant pathogens, but also terrorist attacks that release harmful biological or chemical agents. While the specifics of the agenda are yet to be revealed, it is a hopeful first step that so many leading countries have acknowledged global health security as an urgent priority, and are working together towards eliminating these devastating infectious diseases.
-Kaori
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