Health Ministers Gather in Washington

[Snowy Owl]

Health Ministers Gather in Washington
Group will review preparedness efforts for terrorist and natural threats

At the invitation of HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, health ministers are gathering in Washington, D.C. for the 8th Annual Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI) Ministerial Meeting. They will review preparedness initiatives to respond to threats of biological, chemical, radio-nuclear terrorism, pandemic influenza and other public health emergencies. The health ministers will also discuss food and product safety. This is the first time the United States will host the GHSI Ministerial Meeting.
The GHSI originated following the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent anthrax attacks, when the U.S. Government called for the establishment of a regular, formal opportunity for the Health Ministers of the major industrialized nations and our immediate neighbors to meet and exchange ideas.
GHSI members are the Ministers of Health from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom; the Secretaries of Health from Japan, M?xico, and the United States; the Health Commissioner of the European Union (EU); and the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).
More information is available at http://www.globalhealth.gov/. The events below are open to the press or offer photo opportunities.
FOR CREDENTIALED PRESS ONLY

• 11:00 a.m. ET, Wednesday, October 31, 2007 ? OPEN PRESS
  Working Together to Counter Global Health Threats, Secretary Mike Leavitt
  Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
  1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20004-3027
• 4:30 p.m. ET, Thursday, November 1, 2007 ? OPEN PRESS
  Signing, Trilateral Declaration, Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America
  US Department of Health and Human Services, Secretary?s Conference Room
  Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C.
• 5:30 p.m. ET, Thursday, November 1, 2007 ? OPEN PRESS
  Signing, US-Canada Memorandum of Understanding on Indigenous Health
  US Department of Health and Human Services, Great Hall
  Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C.
• 8:00 a.m. ET, Friday, November 2, 2007 ? PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
  Ministerial Breakfast with Secretary Mike Leavitt and DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff
  Stone House, National Institutes of Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892
• 9:30 a.m. ET, Friday, November 2, 2007 ? PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
  Ministerial Meeting
  Natcher Conference Center Auditorium, National Institutes of Health
  9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892
• 2:00 p.m. ET, Friday, November 2, 2007 ? MINISTERIAL PRESS CONFERENCE
  Natcher Conference Center Auditorium, National Institutes of Health
  9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892

The National Institutes of Health is a secure government facility with perimeter check points and vehicle inspections.
All visitor vehicles will be inspected before being allowed on campus. Visitors will be asked to show one (1) form of identification (a government-issued photo ID ? driver's license, passport, green card, etc.) and to state the purpose of their visit. Be sure to allow extra time for this vehicle inspection procedure.
Visitors should continue to wear their identification prominently at all times while on campus.

[sharon sanders]

Re: Health Ministers Gather in Washington

International Health Leaders Gather At NIH By Stephen Spotswood


BETHESDA, MD�A cross-section of the world�s health leaders converged on the campus of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., last month for the eighth annual ministerial meeting of the Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI). The GHSI, which was formed in 2001, is a loose, voluntary partnership of nations geared to strengthening preparedness against global health threats. Health leaders from a number of nations, including Britain, France, Japan, Germany, Canada, and the European Union, were present, with Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael Leavitt representing the United States.
The influential group spent several days discussing the major health threats facing the world, including biological, radiological and nuclear terrorism, and pandemic influenza.
At a press conference wrapping up the meeting on Oct. 31, Leavitt said that, if the lessons learned in this year�s meeting could be summed up in a single message, it is that the threats that initiated the GHSI�s creation are still felt as potential dangers to global health.
"There has been a conclusion made by this group of the importance of renewing our commitment to this very initiative," Leavitt declared.
"We�ve reviewed our progress to date, looked at the lessons we�ve learned since our last meeting, and used them to focus on ways to improve activities in the future, and come to agreement on concrete improvements [to be made and discussed] over the next 12 months," Leavitt explained. "So far we�ve made significant improvements in streamlining our communications and knowledge sharing. For example, we�ve established an active network of trusted contacts within health ministries. We�ve created a communication system that utilizes a secure Web site and video conferencing to bring senior officials together quickly. We�ve made significant additions to the level of knowledge about pandemic influenza, which has been very useful in the creation of our preparedness plans. We�ve made important progress in building our medical response capabilities."
The last day of the yearly meeting was spent completing a risk assessment to refocus priorities toward the most pressing global health security threats, Leavitt said.
Near the top of that list remains the danger of pandemic bird flu and the need to develop and stockpile medical measures to counter it.
"I think there�s agreement among the ministers that while attention to the H5N1 virus in the media has died down, the virus has not," Leavitt stated. "It continues to spread across the world, continues to worry those who are focused on studying it, and continues to be a dangerous pathogenic agent that can change the world in a significant way."
As for stockpiling countermeasures, Leavitt said, "I think there was a uniform view that preparation is necessary, evidenced by the fact that we have an international stockpile of smallpox [vaccines]."
He added, "There will be differences in how countries choose to approach [the issue], but coordination will provide great value."
Objectives over the next year include improving coordination of risk communication strategies; building on international markets for prioritized medical countermeasures; reaffirming the commitment that sharing flu samples in a free and open way is an important part of fighting disease; and restating the GHSI�s support for the World Health Organization�s sample-sharing agreement.
"International cooperation remains the essential element to assure that we continue to improve the health security of all of our citizens," Leavitt said.
"By working together, we actually make faster progress on these urgent and important topics, with sharing ideas and thoughts," added Minister of State for Public Health of the United Kingdom, Dawn Primarolo. "And we�re making the connections with each other that are so important to the challenges that we face now and in the future."
Taking advantage of the meeting last month, Leavitt sat down with the Secretary of Health of Mexico, Dr. Jose Angel Cordova Villabos and the Minister of Health of Canada, Tony Clement, M.P., to sign a Trilateral Declaration for Mutual Assistance during a Public Health Emergency. The declaration falls under the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), an agreement President Bush and his counterparts from the other two countries launched in March 2005 to increase security and enhance prosperity through greater cooperation and sharing of information. The Declaration provides a mechanism for the three countries to provide mutual assistance in the event one or more of them faces a public-health emergency, such as a pandemic influenza, and is a step toward implementing the North American Plan for Avian and Pandemic Influenza, completed in August 2007.

http://www.usmedicine.com/dailyNews.cfm?dailyID=352