GRF · Health and Biosecurity Governance
Health and Biosecurity Governance
Health security, pandemic cooperation, One Health and biosafety institutions across borders. Health and Biosecurity Governance is an established platform of The Global Risks Forum.
- STEM methods
- 3
- Canonical methods this field applies
- Topics
- 8
- Subject pages in the field
- Counterparts
- 3
- Platforms in shared fields across the network
- Report series
- 1
- Reports series it contributes to
Health and Biosecurity Governance in seven parts.
- 01The problemPathogens cross borders; authority does not
- 02FrameworksWhat the work is read against
- 03OverviewWhat Health and Biosecurity Governance does
- 04What the platform doesConvening the institutions that govern health security
- 05Foundation and counterpartsGrounded in science, linked to evidence and finance
- 06CoverageThe areas of health and biosecurity this platform takes on
- 07GroundingBuilt on named science, technology, engineering and mathematics
Pathogens cross borders; authority does not.
Infectious disease is the clearest example of a shared risk. A pathogen that emerges in one place can reach every region through travel and trade, and its course depends on what every country does: how quickly it detects and reports, whether it shares samples and data, how it protects its health system and how it allocates scarce countermeasures. Yet authority over health remains overwhelmingly national, and often subnational.
International health instruments create obligations to detect, assess, notify and respond, and states have negotiated further arrangements on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Implementation, however, depends on national capacity, legal frameworks, financing and political will, and on trust between states. Recent experience showed familiar failure points: delayed notification, unequal access to vaccines and treatments, export restrictions, contested public communication and health systems overwhelmed by demand.
Biosecurity adds a second dimension. Advances in the life sciences bring great benefits and also lower the barriers to misuse or accidents. Governing laboratory safety, dual-use research and emerging biotechnologies requires institutions that span science ministries, health agencies, security services and international regimes, each with partial authority.
Why now: amended International Health Regulations entered into force in September 2025, and the World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement in May 2025, with its pathogen access and benefit-sharing annex negotiated separately. The platform is designed to convene the institutions inside and outside the health sector that must make these rules work, test continuity in Universe exercises, and feed reviewed findings to Reports.
IHR event governance desk.
The screen a team would use to follow this field: its measures, states and decisions. Names are examples and values are illustrative.
IHR event governance desk
National IHR focal point · Event EV-5986
Event handling
- Signaldetected
- Verifywith source
- AssessAnnex 2
- Notifywithin 24 h
- Respondmeasures
- Reviewafter action
Annex 2 questions
- Serious public health impact?
- Possibly
- Unusual or unexpected?
- Yes
- Risk of international spread?
- Assessing
- Risk of travel or trade restriction?
- Low
Core capacities
self-assessment score vs target
The questions this field works on.
Pandemic governance
International and domestic authority relationships.
TopicOne health policy
Cross-sector stewardship and coordination.
TopicHealth system readiness
Essential services and preparedness.
TopicBiological risk governance
Safety, reporting and oversight.
TopicVaccine and medical supply governance
Access, procurement authority and resilience.
TopicHealth data and rights
Information safeguards and trust.
TopicPublic health communications
Integrity, inclusion and response.
TopicCross border health cooperation
Cooperation across neighbouring countries.
When measures start, and how much they buy.
How the start day and the strength of contact measures change the size and timing of the peak and the share ever infected, the trade-off a public health decision weighs. Teaching model with stated illustrative values, not a prediction. The map on this page shows Southern Africa; the model itself is not tied to a place.
Controls
- Basic reproduction number R0
- 2.5
- Latent period
- 3.0 days
- Infectious period
- 5.0 days
- Share of contacts made in other places
- 8%
- Places in the network
- 24
- Measures start on day
- 40
- Contact reduction from measures
- 40%
- Days simulated
- 240 days
Readouts
- Peak new infections
- 5.22 per 1,000 a day
- Day of the peak
- 158
- Share ever infected
- 58%
- Places reached
- 100%
- Reproduction number under measures
- 1.50
Numbers, methods and sources
| Day | New infections per 1,000 | Cumulative infected (%) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0.00 | 0.0 |
| 17 | 0.02 | 0.0 |
| 34 | 0.29 | 0.2 |
| 51 | 0.86 | 1.3 |
| 68 | 1.49 | 3.3 |
| 85 | 2.16 | 6.5 |
| 102 | 2.80 | 10.7 |
| 119 | 3.60 | 16.1 |
| 136 | 4.55 | 23.1 |
| 153 | 5.18 | 31.5 |
| 170 | 5.00 | 40.3 |
| 187 | 3.93 | 47.9 |
| 204 | 2.42 | 53.3 |
| 221 | 1.22 | 56.2 |
| 238 | 0.54 | 57.6 |
Methods
- SEIR compartments Kermack and McKendrick (1927), Proc. R. Soc. A 115
- Metapopulation coupling by mobility Balcan and others (2009), PNAS 106
- Small-world network Watts and Strogatz (1998), Nature 393
- Modelling infectious diseases Keeling and Rohani (2008), Princeton University Press
- Uncertainty fan (parameter Monte Carlo) Spiegelhalter, Pearson and Short (2011), Visualising uncertainty about the future, Science 333
- One-at-a-time sensitivity (tornado) Saltelli and others (2008), Global Sensitivity Analysis: The Primer, Wiley
Data
The model runs on the teaching values set by the controls. To calibrate it for a place, read it against these admitted layers and series, which this page’s map can draw:
- Cities Natural Earth
- Airports Natural Earth
- Major roads Natural Earth
Across the six pillars, led by Nexus Consortium
- Experiments Labs
- Built in Health and Biosecurity Governance in Foundry
- Tested at Health and Biosecurity Governance in Universe
- Codified in Health and Biosecurity in Standards
- Published in Health and Biosecurity Governance in Reports
- Taught in Faculty of Health and Society in Academy
What the work is read against.
The platform does not set standards. It reads its evidence against the frameworks that competent bodies have adopted, so a finding can be placed where a decision-maker already works.
| Framework or standard | Body | What it sets |
|---|---|---|
| International Health Regulations, as amended | World Health Organization (WHO) | Binding obligations on detection, notification, response and core capacities; the amendments in force add a pandemic emergency level and national IHR authorities |
| WHO Pandemic Agreement | World Health Assembly | Commitments on prevention, One Health, research, manufacturing, technology transfer and supply chains; it opens for signature once the pathogen access and benefit-sharing annex is adopted |
| Quadripartite One Health Joint Plan of Action | FAO, UNEP, WHO and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) | Action tracks for integrating human, animal, plant and environmental health, including zoonoses and antimicrobial resistance |
| Biological Weapons Convention | States Parties, supported by the Implementation Support Unit at UNODA | Prohibition of the development, production and stockpiling of biological weapons, with confidence-building measures |
| Laboratory Biosafety Manual and global guidance framework for the responsible use of the life sciences | World Health Organization | Risk-based biosafety practice for laboratories and a framework for governing dual-use research |
| IHR Monitoring and Evaluation Framework | World Health Organization | State party self-assessment annual reporting, joint external evaluations, after-action reviews and simulation exercises |
| Terrestrial Animal Health Code | World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) | Standards for animal health, disease reporting and safe trade in animals and animal products |
| Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing | Convention on Biological Diversity | Rules on access to genetic resources and fair sharing of benefits from their use |
| Global Strategy on Digital Health | World Health Organization | Principles for governing digital health, including data protection, interoperability and equity |
From mandate to evaluation, by pillar.
The steps an instrument takes from mandate to evaluation, each with the pillar that runs it, and the decisions that stay with the authority. Teaching model with stated illustrative values, not a prediction. The map on this page shows Southern Africa; the model itself is not tied to a place.
- Mandate and problem framing Competent authority (outside the programme)
A competent authority frames the problem and the mandate under its own rules. Howlett, Ramesh and Perl (2009) - Evidence and system model Foundry
The system is modelled with its feedbacks, data and stated limits. OECD (2014), principle 2 - Options appraised with scenarios Foundry
Instruments are compared under scenarios, with uncertainty shown. Hood (1983) - Exercise with stakeholders Universe
The options are tested in an exercise with those who would implement and bear them. OECD (2014), principle 3 - Standard or guidance drafted Nexus Standards
What works is codified as a standard or guidance, open to comment. Nexus Standards process - Decision by the authority Competent authority (outside the programme)
The authority decides, outside the programme, with the evidence on record. Howlett, Ramesh and Perl (2009) - Capacity and training Risk Academy
Those who implement are trained on the decided instrument and its data. Sendai Framework (2015), priority 2 - Monitoring and public report Reports
Indicators are published with sources, limits and corrections. OECD (2014), principle 5 - Evaluation and revision Nexus Standards
Results return to the standard and the model: the cycle closes. Howlett, Ramesh and Perl (2009)
Methods
- Policy cycle Howlett, Ramesh and Perl (2009), Studying Public Policy, Oxford University Press
- Governance of critical risks OECD (2014), Recommendation of the Council on the Governance of Critical Risks
- Layered drawing of directed graphs Sugiyama, Tagawa and Toda (1981), IEEE SMC 11
Across the six pillars, led by Nexus Consortium
- Experiments Labs
- Built in Health and Biosecurity Governance in Foundry
- Tested at Health and Biosecurity Governance in Universe
- Codified in Health and Biosecurity in Standards
- Published in Health and Biosecurity Governance in Reports
- Taught in Faculty of Health and Society in Academy
What Health and Biosecurity Governance does.
Health and biosecurity governance is the system of rules, agencies and agreements through which institutions prepare for health emergencies and govern biological risk. Global Risks Forum’s platform compares pandemic rules, One Health, readiness, biosafety, countermeasures, health data, communication and cooperation, and names who decides. It gives no medical advice.
Its community
Health policy leaders; public health researchers; biosecurity governance specialists.
Its methods
Health institutional comparison; ethical and legal analysis.
Its outputs
Health governance guides; preparedness coordination briefs.
Exercise a cascade in Health and Biosecurity Governance with the people who decide.
Assembled from the Nexus Standards area profile Health security and One Health: the hazards it names, the systems and communities that carry the loss, the controls and institutions that dampen it and the data that observe it. Pick an initiating event and step through the cascade to see where mandates meet and which decisions fall to whom. The Map view places the run on an example geography with open data. Every weight is a stated assumption. An exercise for dialogue, not a forecast, an assessment or a position. To model a place of your own choosing, open the full System Builder.
Hazards
- Antimicrobial resistance
- Tuberculosis surge (set off downstream)
- Typhoid and paratyphoid fever (set off downstream)
- Health-system overload (set off downstream)
Systems and couplings
- Health security and One Health
- Biological hazard standards Mechanism
- Biodiversity and nature risk standards Common driver
- Food and agriculture risk standards Mechanism
- Global and systemic risk Cascade
Controls
NS-0Constitution and principlesNS-3Risk record UNIs (grammar, legacy crosswalk, allocation authority)NS-9Contextual UNIs (deployments, instances, programme instances)NS-10Policies and clauses (machine-readable obligations: definition, binding, evaluation and enforcement)NS-11Verification and monitoring (evidence, attestations, zero-trust conformance observation)NRS-H83Hazard family: Health system capacity failure (NHS-1 health.system)NRS-H42Hazard family: Rare and persistent human infections (NHS-1 health.other-human)NRS-H41Hazard family: Animal-to-human spillover (NHS-1 health.zoonotic)NRS-H43Hazard family: Livestock and aquaculture epizootics (NHS-1 health.animal-health)NRS-D3Humanitarian response and resilient recoveryNRS-H46Hazard family: Environmental and product harm to people (NHS-1 health.harm)
Observation
- WHO Disease Outbreak News (listed for reference)
- WAHIS animal health events (listed for reference)
- WorldPop gridded population (listed for reference)
- International Health Regulations capacity and health emergency preparedness
- Percentage of bloodstream infections due to selected antimicrobial-resistant organisms
Example geography
- West Africa: 59 hexagonal cells
- Night lights tonight, outages (VIIRS Day/Night Band), NASA GIBS
- Surface water through cloud, 30 m (OPERA DSWx-S1 radar), NASA GIBS
- Rain rate, last half hour (IMERG), NASA GIBS
Convening the institutions that govern health security.
The platform is designed to bring together the institutions whose cooperation a health emergency depends on but which rarely meet in calm periods: health ministries and public health agencies, veterinary and environmental authorities, medicines regulators, science funders and biosafety bodies, and their counterparts in neighbouring countries. Each dialogue is designed to end with a published record of what was agreed and where views differed.
Comparison and analysis
Comparison of health institutions and ethical and legal analysis of preparedness and response arrangements.
Guides and briefs
Health governance guides and preparedness coordination briefs, published once reviewed.
Who it is for
Health policy leaders, public health researchers and biosecurity governance specialists.
GRF convenes and governs programmes. It does not regulate, finance, procure or certify, and hosting or sponsorship confers no authority over findings. The platform does not issue health guidance, declare emergencies or speak for any health authority.
Who a decision on Health and Biosecurity Governance reaches.
The sectors a policy on Health and Biosecurity Governance has to coordinate: a choice in one ministry lands in the others.
Signature
Health and its partners
Health gives workforce for operations to infrastructure (0.3), farm labour to food (0.3) and utility workforce to water (0.2).
W · E · I · F · H · B
- Sectors
- 4 of 6
- Relations
- 6 of 15
- Coupling
- 0.42 share of total
Strongest relations in play
- Water → Food · irrigation0.8
- Food → Health · nutrition0.7
- Infrastructure → Water · pipes, dams and treatment works0.6
- Water → Health · drinking water and sanitation0.7
Grounded in science, linked to evidence and finance.
The platform applies epidemiology and public health science, molecular and life sciences and policy, institutional and decision science from the STEM Commons hosted by The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI). See the STEM foundation page.
At GCRI, Health Nexus produces the evidence on health-system continuity, One Health and infectious threats, and Biotechnology and Biosecurity covers the life-science research. At Global Risks Alliance (GRA), Insurance Nexus builds shared industry understanding of health and pandemic exposures. Within GRF, Disaster and Crisis Governance and Information Integrity and Public Trust are close neighbours. Preparedness work can draw on the Foundry systems NXS-EWS (multi-hazard monitoring and warning) and NXS-HUB (knowledge, records and learning) and contribute to the Evidence Brief series. See counterparts across the Consortium.
How Health and Biosecurity Governance is governed: instruments, mandates and commitments.
The instruments, mandates, actors and accountability arrangements a policymaker, diplomat or development agency works with, citing the agreements that set them. Structures follow the frameworks named. Any state or progress drawn is illustrative, not a record.
Policy instrument matrix
The kinds of instrument available on Health and Biosecurity Governance, by level of government and cooperation.
| Instrument type | Local | National | Regional | Global |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regulatory | Zoning, building codes | Laws, standards, licensing | Harmonised rules | Conventions and treaties |
| Economic | Local levies, grants | Budget lines, taxes, insurance schemes | Risk pools, regional funds | Financing mechanisms |
| Information | Local warnings | Disclosure, early warning, statistics | Data sharing arrangements | Global monitoring and reporting |
| Institutional | Local committees | Lead agencies, coordination councils | Regional bodies and secretariats | Multilateral mandates |
| Cooperative | Community agreements | Partnership compacts | Memoranda and joint programmes | Agreements and joint commitments |
Mandates and agreements over time
The agreements that set mandates and commitments on Health and Biosecurity Governance, from adoption to their current horizon.
- 2005International Health RegulationsWHO
- 20152030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development GoalsUnited Nations
- 2025WHO Pandemic Agreement adoptedWorld Health Assembly
- 2030Horizon of the 2030 Agenda and the Sendai FrameworkUnited Nations
The areas of health and biosecurity this platform takes on.
Health and Biosecurity Governance studies how institutions prepare for and govern health emergencies and biological risk: pandemic rules and agreements, One Health coordination between human, animal and environmental health, health system readiness, laboratory biosafety and dual-use research, medical supply chains, health data and rights, public health communication and cross-border cooperation. Its pages set out the mechanisms, records, methods and decision holders. Global Risks Forum convenes the dialogue; it does not give medical advice or issue health alerts.
Pandemic governance
The International Health Regulations, the WHO Pandemic Agreement, emergency declarations and the institutions that coordinate response.
One Health
Coordination between human, animal, plant and environmental health to prevent and detect zoonotic and antimicrobial threats.
Health system readiness
Surge capacity, workforce, essential services continuity and the core capacities countries assess under the IHR.
Biological risk
Laboratory biosafety and biosecurity, dual-use research oversight and the Biological Weapons Convention.
Medical countermeasures
Development, manufacturing, regulation, procurement and allocation of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.
Health data and rights
Surveillance data, sharing of pathogen samples and sequences, privacy, consent and equity in benefit sharing.
Public health communication
Risk communication, community engagement and the management of misinformation in health emergencies.
Cross-border cooperation
Regional health agencies, mutual assistance, financing and the shared rules that govern travel and trade measures.
Environmental exposure in Southern Africa.
Population density, daytime surface heat and haze over Southern Africa, from NASA GIBS. Each layer carries its own date.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 3
Environmental exposure, for this page
About this layer
- Evidence
- Estimated
- Source
- Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (NASA SEDAC (CIESIN, Columbia University))
- Provider
- NASA SEDAC (CIESIN, Columbia University)
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- Vintage
- null; Census-based estimate, static (2020)
- Resolution
- about 1 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Census-based estimate of people per square kilometre in 2020, shown as exposure context; not a count of people affected by any hazard.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed (persistent cloud still leaves gaps)
- Source
- VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day (NASA LANCE)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- 8-day; Satellite 8-day composite; persistent cloud still leaves gaps
- Newest at build
- 2026-09-14
- Resolution
- about 1 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite skin temperature of the ground over the 8 days ending on the date shown, a heat exposure indicator; not air temperature, heat index or a heat warning.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed (clouds leave gaps)
- Source
- VIIRS NOAA-20 Deep Blue AOD (NASA LANCE)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite retrieval; clouds leave gaps
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-14
- Resolution
- about 2 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite measure of haze, smoke and dust through the whole air column on the day shown; an exposure indicator, not ground-level PM2.5, an air quality index or a health warning.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed (clouds leave gaps)
- Source
- VIIRS Global Flood Product (NASA LANCE)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite detection; clouds leave gaps
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-14
- Resolution
- about 250 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite detection; clouds leave gaps. Satellite or model raster as the provider publishes it. Clouds, swath gaps and retrieval error leave gaps and noise; values are indicators, not measurements at a place.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed (clouds and overpass timing leave gaps)
- Source
- VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m (FIRMS) (NASA LANCE FIRMS)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE FIRMS
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite detection; clouds and overpass timing leave gaps
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-13
- Resolution
- about 500 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite hot-spot detections for the day shown, including gas flares and industrial heat; not a confirmed fire, an incident report or a warning.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed
- Source
- VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2) (NASA LAADS DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA LAADS DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite radiance, corrected for moonlight and atmosphere
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-12
- Resolution
- about 500 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite night-time radiance for the date shown; lights are a proxy for electricity use and outages, not a measurement of supply or access.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
Keyboard, with the map focused
Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll to zoom
Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
Loading the latest NASA imagery.
Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
Environmental exposure, framed on Southern Africa.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONET · ESA Copernicus Sentinel-5P TROPOMI · U.S. Geological SurveySources and licences
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
- VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- MODIS and VIIRS atmosphere products, NASA LANCE and LAADS DAAC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), VIIRS 375 m active fire product, NASA LANCE; vector tiles via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
- Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). ODbL
- Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
- Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
- Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
- Observed (EO): ESA Copernicus Sentinel-5P TROPOMI (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026). We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- Live: U.S. Geological Survey Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
- NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- Air quality forecast, 5 days, PM2.5 (CAMS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information 2026.
- Past year, daily temperature (ERA5 via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
- Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Optional layers (14 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates
- Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
- Land surface temperature, day, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
- Aerosol optical depth, daily: VIIRS NOAA-20 Deep Blue AOD, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
- Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
- Active fires and thermal anomalies: VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m (FIRMS), NASA LANCE FIRMS · 13 Oct 2026
- Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
Built on named science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Every claim on Health and Biosecurity Governance rests on methods with a canonical page in the STEM Commons, so readers can see what a finding depends on and where its limits lie.
See the STEM foundation of Health and Biosecurity Governance
How work moves in this field.
A question becomes evidence, a governed build, an organised community, a controlled test, a reviewed publication and, finally, a decision taken by the competent authority under its own rules.
- Question Universe National, regional or institutional priority. Question in Health and Biosecurity Governance
- Evidence Foundry STEM foundation of the platform. Evidence in Health and Biosecurity Governance
- Build Foundry Foundry. Build in Health and Biosecurity Governance
- Organise Universe Nexus ecosystem. Organise in Health and Biosecurity Governance
- Test Universe Universe (independent site). Test in Health and Biosecurity Governance
- Publish Reports Reports. Publish in Health and Biosecurity Governance
- Decide Competent authority Competent authorities and institutions, through NXS-RLS (participants, agreements and handoffs). Decide in Health and Biosecurity Governance
- Renew Universe Corrections and the next annual agenda. Renew in Health and Biosecurity Governance
Each step of the cycle in the pillar it runs in; the decision stays with the competent authority, outside the programme.
- Labs
- Foundry
- Universe
- Nexus Standards
- Reports
- Risk Academy
- Competent authority (outside the programme)
How this works across the six pillars.
Health and Biosecurity Governance works through six pillars of one annual programme, led by the Nexus Consortium, with GCRI, GRF and GRA each contributing in its role: explore, experiment and prototype in Labs, build, simulate and prepare in Foundry, convene and test in Universe, codify, correct and apply in Nexus Standards, publish in every format in Reports, teach in the open in Risk Academy.
handoff in playrecorded handoffno direct handoff
Programme yearAll phases
Route
The whole programme
Every pillar hands its work to another; together they close the year’s feedback loops.
L · F · U · S · R · A
- Pillars
- 6 of 6
- Handoffs
- 18 of 18
- Loops
- 17 closed
Handoffs in play
- F01Universe → Foundry · Admitted mission becomes a cycle project with a decision caseReadiness preparation
- F02Foundry → Universe · Core Build Report and go or no-go evidenceControlled build
- F03Foundry → Reports · Sealed observations and indicator series behind a profileCloseout
- F04Universe → Reports · After-action and scenario findings for chapters 10 and 13After-action review
and 14 more
- LabsWhere questions become experiments and prototypes: new methods, data and tools are tried in the open, with their limits on record, before the Foundry builds them, under the Nexus Consortium.Labs
- FoundryWhere the evidence behind a mandate or commitment is built, with its owner and limits on record.Health and Biosecurity Governance in FoundryFoundry
- UniverseWhere mandates become missions: GRF records each gate, convenes the parties and keeps implementation accountable.Health and Biosecurity Governance in Universeuniverse.nexus
- Nexus StandardsWhere shared rules are agreed in the open; each jurisdiction decides adoption, and no global body holds a veto.Health and Biosecurity in Standardsnexustandards.com
- ReportsWhere governance analysis and the year’s results are published, so commitments can be followed and checked.Health and Biosecurity Governance in ReportsReports
- Risk AcademyWhere policymakers, diplomats and agency staff learn the programme roles and decision-making on the record, on Risk Academy.Faculty of Health and Society in Academyrisksacademy.com
The same field, seen three ways.
GCRI studies a field as science, GRF governs it and GRA builds shared financial understanding of it. Health and Biosecurity Governance links to its counterparts so that work on one side is visible on the others.
Pages in Health and Biosecurity Governance.
Mandate, publisher and status
PageDiscipline and institutional issues
PageResearch and institutional knowledge
PageProfessional practice
PageDialogues and cooperation
PageProgrammes and projects
PageAnnual programme contribution
PageSpecialist and institutional community
PageLeadership and skills
PageConvenings and dialogues
PagePublished findings
PageParticipate
PageInstitutional contact
PageTransparency, rights and safeguards
PageSTEM foundation of Health and Biosecurity Governance
PageHow work moves in this field
PageBuild in Foundry
PageTest in Universe
PagePublish in Reports
PageThe same field across the Consortium
PageTopics
Where this page leads across the Consortium.
Questions and answers.
Who publishes Health and Biosecurity Governance?
Is Health and Biosecurity Governance active?
How can I contribute?
Where are findings published?
Which values on this platform are real?
How do I report an error?
Does the platform give public health advice?
How is it different from Health Nexus?
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium’s quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
- EmailGateway GW-GRFSend it from this pageEvidence, a correction, a case, a method, a review, a translation or profile input. It arrives tagged with this page, so the editor who owns it receives it.
- ZenodoOpen depositDeposit it and submit to the communityPublish your own record on Zenodo with your ORCID iD, then submit it to the Reports community there. Curators review it; the DOI stays yours.
- ReportsGlobal Risks ForumSee every way to contributeThe contribution types, how each is reviewed, what credit you receive, the licence and what is never accepted.
Never send personal data, sensitive infrastructure detail or anything you have no right to share. A contribution is reviewed before use; sending it confers no authorship or editorial rights, and sponsorship never buys a finding.
How Health and Biosecurity Governance works.
Choose a view and press Play to follow the platform’s process, its programme year, the standards it applies and how its findings are published. The outline shows how the work is designed to run, not the status of any decision.
Health and Biosecurity Governance
How Health and Biosecurity Governance works
Platforms · Programme year · Standards · Reports
A platform joins a field to named methods, labelled evidence and the outputs it publishes, without becoming the authority it serves.
01 Scope
- 01Field and familiesStart · The platform leadThe home states the field, its families and who it serves.
- 02Topic dossiersRecord · Platform authorsTopics explain the subject with labelled evidence.
02 Evidence
- 03Evidence labelsRecord · GCRIEach value is labelled: observed, published statistics, estimated, modelled, scenario or unknown.
- 04MethodsStep · Method ownersMethods come from the STEM Commons, each with one canonical page.
03 Work
- 05Scenarios on the systemsModel · Foundry pillarScenarios run on the Nexus systems, labelled as scenario.
- 06Standards that applyRecord · Nexus StandardsThe platform names the standards that apply. A validator report is evidence for review.
04 Publish
- 07EditionsRecord · ReportsFindings are published through Reports with their limits.
- 08Authority decidesOutcome · The competent authorityDecisions and execution stay with the government, operator or licensed institution.
Health and Biosecurity Governance home · Platforms · Shared methodsAn outline of how the work is designed to run; it does not report the status of any decision or record.
Take part in Health and Biosecurity Governance.
Start from who you are. Answer an open call. Or form and lead a competence cell on the Health and Biosecurity Governance platform.
National institutions
Ministries, statistics offices and agencies: a national desk and chapter, and a seat in the working groups. National chapters
Sectors and professions
Operators, regulators, banks, insurers and professional bodies whose work touches Health and Biosecurity Governance. Participate
Learning
Courses and practice, with a record of every course completed. Free to study. Open learning
Standards
Draft, review and adopt the methods and data standards with the working groups. Working groups
Communities and research
Universities, civil society and individual experts: projects, data and review. Write to the team
| Open call | Seeks | Closes |
|---|---|---|
| Founding call for experts to the working groups CALL-FOUNDING-EXPERTS | expert, editor, chair | 2026-12-15 |
| Open nomination for the three independent expert seats of the Global Standards Council CALL-GSC-IND | council-member | 2026-12-01 |
| Nominations of interim regional members (applies only if the transitional provision is decided) CALL-GSC-REG | council-member | 2026-12-15 |
| Review of the wave-1 risk core outlines (C1, C2, C3, C4, C8, C10, C11) CALL-REVIEW-WAVE1 | contributor | 2027-01-31 |
| Experts for the core standards of risk science: uncertainty and evidence grading, scales, structured expert judgement, tolerability, extremes and compound events, catastrophic and existential risk, ethics and equity, units and measurement (NRS-C17 to NRS-C24) CALL-CORE-SCIENCE | expert, editor, chair | 2027-01-31 |
| Independent reviewers for the families of the hazard atlas, three from at least two regions for each family (NHS2-R19), priority families first CALL-ATLAS-REVIEW | expert | 2027-03-31 |
| Members of the interim Frontier Safety Review Panel and red-team reviewers (biosafety and biosecurity, AI safety and security, critical-infrastructure security); applications treated in confidence CALL-FRONTIER-SAFETY-REVIEW | expert | 2026-11-30 |
| Experts in ontology, metrology, software verification and conformity assessment for the requirement register, the NHS-2 machine representation, the conformance test suites and the conformity assessment scheme CALL-CONFORMANCE-ONTOLOGY | expert, editor | 2027-01-31 |
Calls past their closing date are hidden automatically. Every call, proposal and route: open areas and calls.
Gather the cell
Bring together three to seven people with complementary skills: data, field practice, policy and communication.
Register it
Write to the team with the cell’s name, members, area and region. You receive a reference and a contact. Write to the team
Choose a charter
Pick one focus: research and evidence, data and maps, standards review, or community preparedness.
Learn together
Follow shared study paths at Risk Academy, with practice and a record of every course completed. Hazards and resilience
Lead and report
Hold regular sessions. Publish what the cell learns through Reports. Bring findings to the working groups. Working groups
What a national team or a local community can do on The Global Risks Index (NXS-GRX) today.
Your country’s profile
Open risk profiles for 195 countries, with sources and licences on every value. Open the Index
Correct or reply
Correct a value or reply for your country. The change is logged with its effect. Open the Index
Offer data
Offer a dataset. It enters through the licence gate, with your credit. Open the Index
Every figure on this page is indexed: health, society, demography, Southern Africa.
The Index is the Consortium’s indexing system for risk data. Every indicator, hazard, series and country profile carries its Nexus Standards identifier, its source and its licence, so what this page shows can be traced, corrected and reused.
- 01 · Sources205 registered sourcesEvery value keeps its source and licence; withheld values are counted.Data and licences
- 02 · Nexus StandardsNIS-1 and NHS-1451 indicators, 905 hazards; every record carries a UNI.Nexus Standards
- 03 · The Index54 series, 195 country profilesComputed on the standards; no value is published until an edition is released.The Global Risks Index
- 04 · This pageHealth and Biosecurity GovernanceMaps, figures and feeds read the Index in the context of health, society, demography and Southern Africa.Public API
Series in this context health, society, demography
- GSGlobal DevelopmentPoverty, inequality, human development, demographic pressure and displacement as the ground on which shocks become losses.NXS-GRX-AR-000064Society · Demography · Health
- GLBGlobal SystemsThe state of interdependent global risk: the twenty domain indices aggregated to the world, the five core systems (water, energy, food, health, biodiversity) and their couplings, the global tail register and the gap…NXS-GRX-AR-000002Society · Health · Demography
- GSGlobal HealthHealth security capacity, epidemic emergence and spread, heat and air-quality burden, health system stress and access.NXS-GRX-AR-000062Health · Society · Demography
- SRConflict, fragility and human securityConflict risk and escalation, fragility, organised violence, civilian harm and the conflict–climate–food–displacement nexus.NXS-GRX-AR-000075Demography · Society
Country profiles Southern Africa
Every country profile carries the source and licence of each value. Correct a value or reply
Hazard domains NHS-1
- Health and biosecurityNXS-GRX-AR-000143
- Society, conflict and economyNXS-GRX-AR-000147
Geodata and API open
Open layers on an equal-area hexagon grid, shown as densities per km² or as symbols: People · GHSL 2025People · WorldPop 2025Built-up areaPortsAirportsRoadsRailwaysRivers and lake centrelines
/api/v1/public/grix · https://nexustandards.com/uni/{uni}
Developers · Data · Made with Natural Earth, Public domain; GHSL and WorldPop, CC BY 4.0
Snapshot of the Index registries pinned 2026-10-23 · 22c6eed. Research and risk-analytics information: not a rating, an official classification, a warning, a benchmark or advice.
Bring a governance question to the Forum.
Information and enquiries are open today. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.
Legal documents.
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Maps, data and figures on this site are shown for context and general information. They are not advice, forecasts or warnings; the limits of the information are set out in the Disclaimers and Data Notices.