SECURE Health Act

Key Points

• The SECURE Health Act creates a 5-year strategy to guide how the U.S. supports health workers around the world. This plan would track spending and set measurable goals for training and equipping frontline medical staff in low-income countries.
• A new Global Health Workforce Coordinator would be appointed within the State Department to oversee these efforts, making sure different government agencies work together on global health investments.
• The bill shifts U.S. global health spending away from funding tied to one disease at a time and toward integrated approaches that let health workers treat multiple conditions. This reflects how frontline workers actually operate in the field.
• Countries receiving U.S. help would need to contribute to health worker salaries and create plans to eventually take over that funding. This is meant to make sure health systems can survive without ongoing American financial support.
• The bill highlights the connection between global health and U.S. national security, noting that countries with poor health are more prone to instability and conflict. It also points out that one in five U.S. physicians and one in six nurses are foreign-educated.