Backgrounder: World Health Day 2007 - "International Health Security"

Canada works with several international partners and agencies on issues related to International Health Security. These are five examples of initiatives where Canada, together with its international partners, is helping to ensure a safer, healthier future for the world's people.

Global Health Research Initiative (GHRI)

The Global Health Research Initiative (GHRI) is a partnership between Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and Health Canada (HC) to collaborate and build capacity on global health research in Canada. The partnership has recently allocated $20 million in funding through the Teasdale-Corti Team Grants to Canadian health researchers with counterparts in the developing world. These grants include initiatives to reduce human exposure to emerging infectious diseases in South-East Asia, improve mental health outcomes for those exposed to political violence and natural disasters, improve food and water safety in the Caribbean as well as to combat infectious disease in Honduras/Central America.

The GHRI also has an Avian and Pandemic Influenza Program which is funded with an initial IDRC contribution of nearly $3 million over the 2006 to 2008 period. Proposed program elements include such activities as closed and invited competitions to stimulate regional collaboration around research on avian influenza and carry out research on zoonotic H5N1influenza in Northern Africa.

For more information, consult the  Global Health Research Initiative Web site.

Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI)

Following the events of September 11, 2001 an international partnership of like-minded countries was formed to strengthen health preparedness and response to global threats of biological, chemical, radio-nuclear terrorism (CBRN) and pandemic influenza. On November 7, 2001, Canada's Minister of Health hosted the first Ministerial Meeting in Ottawa, Canada to discuss global health security. The meeting resulted in the creation of the Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI). GHSI countries have since worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) and officials from other countries to collectively strengthen health security response and preparedness. Initiatives conducted under the GHSI include initiatives with respect to field epidemiology and outbreak investigation; the public health aspects of radiological and nuclear threats; health security research; and capacity building and training for emerging infectious diseases. GHSI Ministerial meetings are held annually. The most recent Ministerial meeting took place in Tokyo, Japan, on December 7, 2006.

For more information, consult the  Global Health Security Initiative Web site.

International Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Initiatives

Canada is a strong proponent of a coordinated multilateral approach to the global fight against avian influenza and a potential human influenza pandemic. We recognize the importance of integrated national and regional planning for both animal and human health.

Canada supports the international efforts of multilateral organizations such as the World Health Organization(WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the UN System Influenza Coordination (UNSIC). Canada also actively contributes to avian influenza and human pandemic preparedness in such forums as the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza (IPAPI), the Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

Publication - Canada's Contributions to the Global Fight Against Avian and Pandemic Influenza

Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN)

The Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GHPIN) is a secure Internet-based "early warning" system that gathers preliminary reports of public health significance on a "real-time", 24 hours a day, 7 days a week basis. This unique multilingual system gathers and disseminates relevant information on disease outbreaks and other public health events by monitoring global media sources such as news wires and web sites. The information is filtered for relevancy by an automated process which is then complemented by human analysis. The output is categorized and made accessible to users. Notifications about public health events that may have serious public health consequences are immediately forwarded to users.

For more information, consult the  Global Public Health Intelligence Network information document or the Global Public Health Intelligence Network publication.

Global Outbreak and Alert Response Network (GOARN)

The WHO's Global Outbreak and Alert Response Network (GOARN) is a technical collaboration of existing institutions and networks that pool human and technical resources for the rapid identification, confirmation and response to outbreaks of international importance. Canada is a founding member of the GOARN and provides human resources, including epidemiological and laboratory expertise, for GOARN international outbreak response teams.