MSH Statement on the new U.S. Administration

Management Sciences for Health Commends Biden-Harris Administration’s Commitment to Global Health Security

Arlington, VA—January 29, 2021—Management Sciences for Health (MSH) welcomes President Biden’s recent actions to help end the COVID-19 pandemic, strengthen global health security, and improve the health and livelihood of millions of people worldwide. 

In his first week in office, President Biden issued an Executive Order to mobilize the U.S. government for a more effective COVID-19 response and provide U.S. leadership on global health security; released a National Strategy for the COVID-19 response and pandemic preparedness; released a National Security Directive on U.S. global leadership to strengthen the international COVID-19 response and advance global health security and biological preparedness; and issued an Executive Order to ensure a data-driven response to COVID-19 and similar future public health threats. 

In addition, the Administration has halted the process for the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization and confirmed that the U.S. will participate in COVAX, an international effort to source and distribute COVID-19 vaccines. 

The White House has also taken steps to address climate change—a critical element of fighting pandemics and improving public health—by rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement and reinstating a number of rules rolled back by the previous Administration.

MSH’s President and CEO, Marian W. Wentworth, said, “Viruses do not recognize borders. We will not stop a pandemic and ensure global health security without a worldwide response. An equitable, unified approach will also help ensure that countries with fragile health systems are able to join a global recovery.”  

MSH has long called for the U.S. government to prioritize and scale up financing for pandemic preparedness and response and more recently to increase support for the global COVID-19 response. Through our work in more than two dozen countries to support pandemic response, we have seen firsthand the importance of investing in building leadership capacity, training health workers in infection prevention and control, supporting effective supply chain management, and developing disease and treatment surveillance tools. Under the new Administration, the global health community’s hard-won lessons will help ensure that future outbreaks are stemmed before they kill millions.