PD 22 - Global Public Health Security

There is a wealth of data being collected at the national level across a range of indicators, monitoring and evaluation tools, and programs, however mechanisms are not always in place to allow effective use of this data in decision-making for national health security and preparedness. Further, the barriers to accessing data from within the health sector, as well as data that is relevant to the health sector but collected by non-health actors, are poorly characterized at a national and subnational level.

Director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control, Dr John Nkengasong, urged Member States to establish and strengthen their National Public Health Institutes (NPHIs) as a matter of health security. To optimally use information to strengthen health security and preparedness at both the national and global levels, it is imperative that NPHIs are able to first access available and relevant existing data. This session has a dual focus on the evolving role of NPHIs in mandating and advocating for better preparedness and on the governance of data for health, reflecting on the value of existing data across the health and non-health sectors and the challenges to more effective use of data to empower the NPHIs.

The Centre on Global Health Security, in collaboration with three NPHIs in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Pakistan, is leading a project to Strengthen National Accountability and Preparedness for Global Health Security (SNAP-GHS). This project provides a springboard for the proposed panel discussion, inviting the Directors of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the Ethiopian Public Health Institute to engage in the topic and session focus (along with key project partners, the Robert Koch Institute and the International Association of NPHIs).