A Greeting by HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is working hard to improve the health of people in our own country and around the world. Under the leadership of President George W. Bush and his entire administration, we are committed to finding and sharing solutions to shared health problems with our global partners.

During the past century, the global public health community has made major strides in improving the health of people around the world. Together with our partners, we have eradicated smallpox, eliminated polio in many regions and improved the lives of countless infants and children through better nutrition and better prenatal care.

The global challenges for this new century are daunting. Driven by compassion and an awareness of our shared humanity, these problems require the very best research, practice and service from HHS. They require innovative and effective partnerships, and these will help us fight and win the battles to conquer HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, bioterrorism, and tobacco use; assure food safety and security; and protect vulnerable populations from preventable illnesses.

Because our health, our economies and our humanitarian values have become truly global in nature, our responses must likewise be global in nature. HHS has a wealth of experience to share with our colleagues in other countries and with multilateral organizations such as the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization, as well as nongovernmental organizations linked to this very website. We value the lessons we have learned - and applied - from the experiences of others around the world who face many of the same problems that we face here in the United States.

"Global health" is, indeed, a two-way street that involves sharing solutions to common health problems worldwide. It is in this spirit that HHS is pleased to welcome you to our globalhealth.gov website. We hope you will find it informative, and we look forward to hearing back from you as we seek to provide leadership to help address both domestic and international health problems.