Since 2014 - when the most widespread Ebola outbreak in history hit West Africa and in turn galvanized global action around strengthening infectious disease prevention, detection and response capabilities - USAID's Global Health Security Program has invested more than $1.6 billion to ensure the necessary systems are in place to prevent, detect and respond to emerging infectious disease threats wherever they exist. These investments have been in projects implemented by a wide variety of partners, including non-governmental organizations, U.S. and host-country universities, the private sector, multilateral organizations, research institutions and various local partners. 

Breakthrough Action

Breakthrough ACTION ignites collective action and encourages people to adopt healthier behaviors and reduce risky behaviors, by forging, testing, and scaling up new and hybrid approaches to social and behavior change (SBC) and assist countries to build their capacity to plan and implement effective and responsive risk communication and community engagement interventions. Firmly grounded in proven practices, Breakthrough ACTION works in partnership with governments, civil society, and communities around the world to implement creative and sustainable SBC programming, nurture SBC champions, mainstream new techniques and technologies, and advocate strategic and sustained investment in SBC.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)

USAID supports the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations’ (CEPI) mission is to stimulate and accelerate the development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases and enable access to these vaccines for people during outbreaks. USAID investment is used to support CEPI’s vital vaccine development programmes against its current priority diseases: Lassa fever, Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Nipah, Chikungunya, Rift Valley Fever, and Ebola. The investment also helps advance innovative vaccine platform technologies for rapid vaccine development against unknown pathogens (termed ‘Disease X’), which are already in use to develop vaccine candidates against COVID-19.

Core Group Polio Project (CGPP)

CGPP is a multi-country, multi-partner initiative providing financial support and on-the-ground technical guidance and support to strengthen partner country efforts to eradicate polio. USAID’s Global Health Security program is leveraging this long-standing support to eradicate polio by strengthening multi sectoral partnerships and expanding community-based surveillance and engagement.

Emergency Supply Chains

Through multiple supply chain partners, USAID supports partner country governments and stakeholders to prepare national supply chains for emergencies. An adaptable emergency supply chain framework enables countries to prepare for, and have a plan in place to respond to, infectious disease outbreaks. USAID works with partners to put in place an accompanying playbook that helps guide the country through a variety of infectious disease outbreak scenarios, including outbreaks of unknown pathogens (“Disease X”). The playbook and framework are solidified through a simulation exercise where government, donors and other stakeholders come together to rehearse a response, ultimately leading to a supply chain prepared for outbreaks of all kinds.

UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)

USAID partners with the UN FAO’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases to build critical capacity in partner countries to prevent, detect and respond to outbreaks of zoonotic disease. FAO supports USAID’s Global Health Security investments through zoonotic disease preparedness and response, strengthening national laboratory systems, improving biosafety and biosecurity, scaling up workforce development, and reducing antimicrobial resistance.

Infectious Disease Detection and Surveillance (IDDS)

The IDDS project supports countries in detecting priority diseases and antimicrobial resistance through building national and subnational capacities to improve diagnostic networks and surveillance systems. This assistance adheres to the holistic One Health approach, which recognizes that people, animals and their shared environment are interconnected.

International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)

IFRC is the world’s largest humanitarian network, with 190 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and around 17 million volunteers worldwide. USAID provides funding to IFRC to engage their global network of community-based volunteers to support USAID’s investments in infectious diseases. Through IFRC, USAID supports the efforts of partner countries to take effective, sustainable action to improve infectious disease prevention and control efforts. By strengthening community-based surveillance, improving community engagement and working hand in hand with leaders and local stakeholders, countries are better prepared for infectious disease threats.

Localize Global Health Security (LGHS)

Localize Global Health Security (LGHS) supports local partners to address gaps in health security as identified in national health security capacity assessments. LGHS complements the multisectoral cross-technical approaches of other GHS programs to move countries closer to achieving Global Health Security Agenda targets. As a result of this support, local partners will be able to address critical caps in health security through grants and technical assistance in prioritized technical areas, strengthen the organizational capacity of local entities to effectively manage the implementation of health security technical interventions and expand global knowledge base on approaches and best practices for local entities conducting global health security interventions.

Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services (MTaPS)

The MTaPS project aims to help low- and middle-income countries strengthen their pharmaceutical systems to ensure sustainable access to and appropriate use of safe, effective, quality-assured, and affordable essential medicines and pharmaceutical services. As a core part of its work, MTaPS supports USAID’s global health security efforts by combating antimicrobial resistance, a growing threat to the efficacy of treatments worldwide. These efforts are directed toward building countries’ capacities to strengthen infection, prevention and control, improve multisectoral coordination and optimize the use of antimicrobials to avert infectious disease threats – thus securing health nationally and globally.

National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)

USAID partners with the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to convene experts through the Forum on Microbial Threats. The Forum covers topics related to emerging infectious diseases including Ebola, COVID-19, TB, vaccines, diagnostics, One Health, and many others.

One Health Workforce - Next Generation

The One Health Workforce - Next Generation (OHW-NG) project promotes global health security by empowering One Health University Networks in Africa and Southeast Asia to build the human resources and bolster the workforce for more effective disease surveillance and control. OHW-NG works to empower these local university networks to become global leaders in transforming the capacity of workforces to more effectively engage across sectors to prepare current and future health workers to prevent, detect, and respond to emerging disease threats of epidemic and pandemic importance.

One of the main objectives of OHW-NG is to strengthen organizational capacity and the long-term sustainability of the Africa One Health University Network (AFROHUN) and Southeast Asia One Health University Network (SEAOHUN). In 2022, each Network achieved a major organizational and project milestone by receiving direct funding from USAID for the first time.

Learn more about the Southeast Asia One Health University Network

Learn more about the Africa One Health University Network

Strategies to Prevent Spillover (STOP Spillover)

STOP Spillover contributes to USAID’s work to understand and address the risks posed by known zoonotic diseases that are spilling over from animals to humans and causing infectious disease outbreaks. STOP Spillover works with local stakeholders in a limited number of targeted countries across Africa and Asia to understand and address threats posed by zoonotic viral diseases that can spillover from animals to humans in an effort to reduce risk of infection, amplification, and spread. It plays a significant role in USAID’s broad Global Health Security efforts by enhancing our global understanding of the complex drivers of viral spillover and augmenting sustainable national capacities in surveillance, risk analysis, and behavior change.

STOP Spillover works to strengthen national capacities to:

1. Understand the factors that contribute to the risk of spillover of pathogens from wildlife to humans;
2. Develop, assess, and implement early risk-reduction interventions that will reduce the spillover and spread of these threats; and
3. Recognize and respond rapidly to zoonotic spillover events.

Transformational Strategies for Farm Output Risk Mitigation (TRANSFORM)

TRANSFORM contributes to USAID’s global health security efforts by engaging the private sector to research and develop market-driven solutions that improve animal health – an effort that is contributing to global health security and increasing people’s access to safe, affordable animal-sourced nutrition. Collaborating with dairy, swine, poultry, and shrimp farmers with production ranging from smallholder to large-scale, intensive farms in Asia and Africa, TRANSFORM is developing and implementing innovative, market-driven, and sustainable research and development (R&D) solutions that reduce the spillover of emerging zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and the prevalence of Transboundary Animal Disease (TADs). TRANSFORM is working to institutionalize best practices in animal production, strengthen animal health, build resilience to disease threats, and reduce the transmission of disease and drivers of AMR. Human health is intrinsically linked with the health of animals, and TRANSFORM represents an innovative way for the public and private sector to come together to protect human health by improving animal production practices.

World Health Organization

USAID partners with the World Health Organization (WHO) on a variety of efforts that improve partner country capacity to prevent, detect and respond to emerging infectious disease threats. These efforts include strengthening real-time human bio-surveillance through the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) for key pathogens; supporting a global database of respiratory pathogens; strengthening national preparedness to respond to events of public health significance; supporting “One Health” national platforms; and investing in “One Health” workforce development.