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The School of International Service was honored to host senior leadership from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Global Affairs (OGA) to spotlight the launch of their .

The strategy focuses on global health and human services with goals that focus on international policy, innovation, partnerships and preparedness. To create the strategy HHS worked across departments to understand priorities and put equity at its center.

In a fireside chat, HHS Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs Loyce Pace suggested that some people may be surprised to learn that HHS has built global coordination into its approach for more than a century and its global conversations are just that: two-way exchanges of ideas. The agency doesn鈥檛 just help others, it asks for help and values the insights that overseas partners share that offer a unique contribution to issues. Ways of addressing a challenge, like death from childbirth, are relevant to disadvantaged communities everywhere, whether in the US or globally.

HHS currently has seven Health Attach茅s stationed around the world, and four (from India, Kenya, South Africa, and Switzerland) participated in a panel. Health Attach茅s build important relationships that are founded on trust. They play a vital role for the US in negotiations with partners and in making influential connections that impact life-saving decisions.

The final panel featured representatives from three agencies tasked with implementation of the strategy: Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR); Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, (ARPA-H) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The common thread running through all the agencies, including the ARPA-H which is the newest, is the importance of global networks in their innovation, research and development. Their potential to provide rapid responses belies the idea that government is slow to react. Overall, the duality of protecting the US by also protecting other countries is increasingly important.

A question on the audience鈥檚 mind was clearly 鈥淲hy now?鈥� Why launch the global strategy weeks out from a change in administration? Assistant Secretary Pace explained that the last update to the strategy was in 2016. On joining HHS in 2021 she made a commitment to her team to update the strategy in light of current and potential global health threats. The effects of climate change and the impact of AI are addressed. The HHS has been doing a vast range of work globally and the strategy shares the work and suggests ways to keep making progress.