The Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI) originated at the international symposium of the Commonwealth Fund in Washington, D.C. on October 10, 2001, under the leadership of former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy G. Thompson.
The mailing of anthrax-laced letters just 1 month after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, in the United States (FBI), highlighted several inadequacies in U.S. and international preparedness and response to biological threats. It was now deemed necessary to establish a regular, formal opportunity for the Health Ministers of the major industrialized nations and the WHO to meet and exchange ideas on health security and bioterrorism, whether the biological threats is naturally occurring, accidental, or intentionally-released. [1, 2]
The first meeting was held on November 7, 2001 in Ottawa, Canada.