Geneva, 23 May 2017 (PAHO/WHO) - Major disease outbreaks have become more common around the globe - testing the resiliency of health systems and essential services to protect the health of vulnerable populations.

A panel discussion "side event", held today at the World Health Assembly (WHA), examined a range of public health security issues, including local to global efforts that are both underway and still needed to protect vulnerable people against both communicable and non-communicable diseases.

The event was organized by the delegations of Australia, Indonesia, Mexico, Korea, Philippines, Turkey and Tanzania. Much of the discussion centered on national planning, financing, and multi-sectoral collaboration that are needed for improving public health security, and by extension health systems - with the appropriate inclusion of civil society and the private sector.

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"Health security requires planning and implementation -- with human resources, infrastructure and trained personnel to deal with global health threats," said Dr. Pablo Kuri-Morales, Subsecretary of Health Prevention and Promotion in Mexico. "Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are also becoming a global health security threat, and they will eventually make our health systems ineffective unless we make them resilient to this threat, in the mid- and long-term."

It was recognized that national disease surveillance and outbreak containment carry a high cost for national health systems. However the failure of countries to achieve health security can have a much higher cost for their populations. 

"Universal health coverage is dependent on health security," said a World Bank representative. "Health security starts with individual citizens in at-risk communities. This is not just a health sector financing issue."