A commission including global health and national security leaders, and members of Congress has released a set of recommendations it believes can serve as a blueprint for improved U.S. action on global health security.
“We began the Commission’s work with a simple, powerful proposition: health security is national security, in a world that is increasingly dangerous and interdependent,” Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, the co-chair of the Center for Strategic and International Studies Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security, said in her written testimony for a Senate Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee hearing Wednesday.
“We need to adjust our thinking to account for this fundamental new reality. We need new approaches to operate effectively, on-the-ground, in difficult, insecure places,” she said in the testimony. “The Commission also arrived at a stark, companion conclusion: U.S. health security policy is caught in a cycle of crisis and complacency, which leaves Americans very vulnerable.”