Multilateral Collaboration

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, established on December 14, 1960, provides a forum for its 34 industrialized member country governments to compare policy experience, seek answers to common problems, identify good practices and co-ordinate domestic and international policies. OECD conducts economic and policy analyses on a wide range of topics, including health and social policy. Through the Health Committee and the Working Party on Social Policy, the OECD is currently undertaking work on a number of health and social policy subjects of relevance to the United States, including future health workforce demand, health statistics and health quality indicators, adoption of health information technology, disability and mental health.

The High-level Group on the Security of Supply of Medical Radioisotopes (HLG-MR)

The High-level Group on the Security of Supply of Medical Radioisotopes (HLG-MR), established in 2009 by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), comprises experts who represent the governments of Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Russia the Netherlands, South Africa, the EU, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the United States. The HLG-MR aims to support efforts of the international community in addressing the challenges of medical isotope supply reliability.

  • Further information on the HLG-MR

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Group of Eight (G8)

The Group of Eight (G8) is a forum made up of France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and the United States. Each year, a summit is held by one of the member nations, according to an established rotating order. The annual meetings are intended to foster consensus on global issues such as economic growth and crisis management, global security, energy, and terrorism. The United States will host the annual ministerial in 2012. The host nation's president sets the agenda, and decides on upcoming ministerial meetings.

G8's engagement in global health includes the support of health initiatives such as Roll Back Malaria, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the GAVI Alliance, for which the HHS is a global partner.

  • Further information on the G8 [PDF, 112 KB]

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Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI)

The Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI) is an informal, international partnership to address health security issues and strengthen health preparedness and response globally to threats of biological, chemical, radio-nuclear terrorism (CBRN) and pandemic influenza.

This Initiative was launched in November 2001 by Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, México, the United Kingdom and the United States. The World Health Organization serves as an expert advisor to the GHSI.

  • Further information on the GHSI .

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Arctic Health

HHS participates in interagency and international bodies focused on the particular health and social policy issues facing people in the Arctic.

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The Arctic Council

The Arctic Council is a high level intergovernmental forum for promoting cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic States, with the involvement of the Arctic Indigenous communities and other Arctic inhabitants on common Arctic issues, in particular issues of sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic. The member states are Canada, Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United States of America. In addition to the Member States, the Arctic Council has the category of Permanent Participants. This category is open equally to Arctic organizations of Indigenous peoples with a majority of Arctic Indigenous constituency representing:

  • A single Indigenous people resident in more than one Arctic State; or
  • More than one Arctic Indigenous people resident in a single Arctic State.

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Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program

The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program is a working group within the Arctic Council with a mandate to conduct assessments of levels, trends and effects of contaminants on ecosystems and humans, including effects of oil and gas activities. A special priority has been placed on the potential impacts of contaminants on the health of Arctic residents.

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Sustainable Development Working Group

The mandate of the Arctic Council's Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) is to advance sustainable development in the Arctic. This includes opportunities to protect and enhance the environment and the economies, culture and health of the indigenous communities and other inhabitants of the Arctic, and to improve the environmental, economic and social conditions of Arctic communities as a whole.

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U.S. Arctic Research Commission (USARC)

The United States Arctic Research Commission (USARC), established by the Arctic Research and Policy Act in 1984, develop and recommend an integrated national Arctic research policy and to assist in establishing a national Arctic research program plan to implement the policy. The seven Commissioners, appointed by the President, facilitate cooperation among the federal government, state and local governments, and other nations with respect to basic and applied Arctic research.

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International Union for Circumpolar Health

The International Union for Circumpolar Health is a non-governmental organization comprised of an association of five circumpolar health organizations: the American Society for Circumpolar Health, the Canadian Society for Circumpolar Health, the Nordic Council for Arctic Medical Research, the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Medical Section, and the Danish Greenlandic Society of Circumpolar Health. Its mission is to promote circumpolar collaboration and cooperation through the activities of 13 working groups in different fields of health and medicine.

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