Open AccessGlobal Health Security Capacity and Capability Measurement Framework Within the Biological Threat Reduction Program
Author(s) -
Nino Kharaishvili,
Jane Blake,
Douglas H Gorsline,
Lance R. Brooks
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
health security
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.705
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 2326-5108
pISSN - 2326-5094
DOI - 10.1089/hs.2020.0023
Subject(s) - biosecurity , biosafety , accountability , sustainability , risk analysis (engineering) , business , process management , environmental resource management , environmental economics , engineering , computer security , computer science , environmental science , political science , microbiology and biotechnology , ecology , economics , law , biology
The Biological Threat Reduction Program, part of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program since 1991, is mandated by the US Congress to regularly provide public reporting as part of its accountability. The Biological Threat Reduction Program recently designed a metrics and evaluation framework to measure its impact and effectiveness in partner countries. The framework focuses on capacity and capability strengthening related to biosafety, biosecurity, and biosurveillance. This is a marked shift from the previous approach, which relied on more tangible outcomes such as the elimination of weapons of mass destruction production assets, delivery devices, munitions, and construction activities. The new metrics and evaluation framework tracks the program's impact across 24 biosafety, biosecurity, and biosurveillance metrics and numerous capability, capacity, sustainability, and regional leadership indicators for human and animal health systems. The framework uses quantitative and qualitative inputs to generate measurement scores for program investment in partner countries. Overall, the framework provides a robust feedback loop between requirements, plans, and implementation processes throughout each step of the program's annual management lifecycle.