Global Health Security: 2024 Year in Review

Health Security Evolution and the Path for Pandemic Preparedness

In a mini-Master Class on global health security, Carolynn Poulsen, Abt’s director of global health security, examines the progression of health security and outlines strategies to enhance pandemic preparedness. Understanding the historical impact of epidemics and pandemics must inform current and future health security strategies. To strengthen pandemic preparedness, we must invest in robust health systems that can effectively prevent, detect, and respond to health threats; implement One Health approaches; enhance surveillance and data sharing; and build sustainable financing mechanisms.

Digital Innovation in Advancing Health Security

From cross-border data sharing platforms to AI-driven predictive analytics, the world has an unprecedented opportunity to leverage digital innovation in health security solutions to detect outbreaks early, track disease spread and coordinate effective interventions on a global scale. A webinar on digital GHS showcased the transformative potential of emerging digital solutions for global health security and explored how the global community can safely adopt innovations.

Scaling Innovative Locally Led Solutions to Global Health Security Threats in Madagascar

Trusted partnerships with local innovators have enabled scaling up of locally designed solutions to global health security threats. In this film, Abt shines a light on Madagascar, where our government and community-based partners have learned from past experiences with plague response to improve their current and future response system. Reinforcing community engagement and strengthening capacity at the local level are central to addressing immediate and systemic barriers to care.

Operationalizing One Health

A One Health approach is critical to mitigating zoonotic diseases and strengthening health systems globally. In the Operationalizing One Health webinar, we delved into the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health and highlighted field-tested strategies.

Further Resources for Health Security Practitioners

• Beyond Borders and Building Blocks: The Future of Health Systems Strengthening: Explore the Health for All movement and the power of primary care to transform the future health systems in this mini-Master Class with Kelly Saldana, Abt’s Vice President of Systems Strengthening and Resilience.
• What is One Health? A Frontline Defense Against Zoonotic Diseases: One Health strategies stand as a frontline defense, promoting global health security by proactively and comprehensively managing complex and dynamic threats that could lead to disease outbreaks. Abt is at the forefront of this interdisciplinary health research and program work with the ability to assemble nimble teams that can quickly stand up large, complex, research studies to address difficult challenges.
• Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance: Integration and Health Systems Strengthening: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global crisis, causing over 5 million deaths annually and threatening modern healthcare by rendering antibiotics, antivirals, and antifungals ineffective. Combating AMR requires a holistic One Health approach that integrates robust primary healthcare systems, antimicrobial stewardship, improved surveillance, regulatory enforcement, and community engagement. Strengthened health systems, workforce training, and cross-sector collaboration are essential to mitigate AMR's devastating health and economic impacts and ensure global health resilience.
• Bolstering Global Health Security in a Changing Climate: Climate change is altering the distribution, reproductive rate, and behavior of vectors such as ticks, mosquitoes, and sandflies. Health security strategies must reflect the risks and increasing complexity that climate change contributes to our ecosystem.