My name is Veronica Matuszewski, I am an ambassador to the Borgen Project in the Arizona sector.

The Borgen Project regularly meets with congressional leaders to gain support in life-saving legislation and programs.

I am writing this letter to advocate for the Global Health Security Act. As the global number of deaths from the coronavirus continues to rise, the U.S. needs to take the lead and invest in global responses to prevent future pandemics.

Today, children in low-income countries are over 100 times more likely to die from infectious diseases. Epidemics and pandemics also disrupt trade and tourism, totaling about 18 percent of the global economy.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office stated, “national security and public experts agree that infectious diseases pose a substantial direct and indirect threat to U.S. interests.”

The Global Health Security Act is crucial to combating COVID-19.

The bill will increase the U.S. government’s efforts to support epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevent threats of infectious disease outbreaks by establishing a Global Health Security Agenda Interagency Review Council.

The Council will provide policy-level recommendations to participating agencies on GHSA-specific goals, objectives and implementation measures.

The bill will also strengthen interagency, multi-sectoral engagement and coordinate across GHSA national plans and partners to resolve challenges in achieving GHSA commitments to prepare for and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.

Promoting global health security is essential to the U.S. I urge our senators, Krysten Sinema and Martha McSally to support the Global Health Security Act in order to protect U.S. national security interests and help save lives in the fight to alleviate global poverty.

Veronica Matuszewski
Cave Creek