News Release

Health Ministers Gather in Washington
Group will review preparedness efforts for terrorist and natural threats

At the invitation of HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, health ministers are gathering in Washington, D.C. for the 8th Annual Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI) Ministerial Meeting. They will review preparedness initiatives to respond to threats of biological, chemical, radio-nuclear terrorism, pandemic influenza and other public health emergencies. The health ministers will also discuss food and product safety. This is the first time the United States will host the GHSI Ministerial Meeting.

The GHSI originated following the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent anthrax attacks, when the U.S. Government called for the establishment of a regular, formal opportunity for the Health Ministers of the major industrialized nations and our immediate neighbors to meet and exchange ideas.

GHSI members are the Ministers of Health from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom; the Secretaries of Health from Japan, México, and the United States; the Health Commissioner of the European Union (EU); and the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).

More information is available at http://www.globalhealth.gov/. The events below are open to the press or offer photo opportunities.

FOR CREDENTIALED PRESS ONLY

• 11:00 a.m. ET, Wednesday, October 31, 2007 — OPEN PRESS
  Working Together to Counter Global Health Threats, Secretary Mike Leavitt
  Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
  1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20004-3027



• 4:30 p.m. ET, Thursday, November 1, 2007 — OPEN PRESS
  Signing, Trilateral Declaration, Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America
  US Department of Health and Human Services, Secretary’s Conference Room
  Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C.



• 5:30 p.m. ET, Thursday, November 1, 2007 — OPEN PRESS
  Signing, US-Canada Memorandum of Understanding on Indigenous Health
  US Department of Health and Human Services, Great Hall
  Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C.



• 8:00 a.m. ET, Friday, November 2, 2007 — PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
  Ministerial Breakfast with Secretary Mike Leavitt and DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff
  Stone House, National Institutes of Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892



• 9:30 a.m. ET, Friday, November 2, 2007 — PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
  Ministerial Meeting
  Natcher Conference Center Auditorium, National Institutes of Health
  9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892



• 2:00 p.m. ET, Friday, November 2, 2007 — MINISTERIAL PRESS CONFERENCE
  Natcher Conference Center Auditorium, National Institutes of Health
  9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892

The National Institutes of Health is a secure government facility with perimeter check points and vehicle inspections.

All visitor vehicles will be inspected before being allowed on campus. Visitors will be asked to show one (1) form of identification (a government-issued photo ID — driver's license, passport, green card, etc.) and to state the purpose of their visit. Be sure to allow extra time for this vehicle inspection procedure.

Visitors should continue to wear their identification prominently at all times while on campus.

Tune your radios to 1660 AM for further NIH traffic, parking and security advisories. For questions, please contact the ORS Information Line at orsinfo@mail.nih.gov or 301-594-6677, TTY 301-435-1908.

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.