Nuclear Threat Initiative — Biosecurity programme

What problem is Nuclear Threat Initiative’s biosecurity programme working on?

NTI | bio works with a variety of key decision-makers and educators — including government leaders, scientists, industry experts, NGOs, and educators — to design and promote threat-reduction projects and improve biosecurity.

NTI | bio helped launch a Global Health Security Index, described as “the first comprehensive assessment of the health security capacities of 195 countries.” The index was designed to understand global health security needs as well as the health security needs and gaps of individual countries, with the goal of better facilitating international cooperation to address biological threats. The average 2021 GHS index score reveals that “global preparedness for epidemics and pandemics is fundamentally weak.”

What does Nuclear Threat Initiative's biosecurity programme do?

NTI believes that “addressing biological threats is a shared responsibility between governments and the private sector.” Specifically, NTI | bio:

• Facilitates collaboration among world leaders, scientists, experts, and educators to reduce the risk of catastrophic biological threats by raising awareness, designing solutions, and advocating for international norms.
• Promotes solutions to improve biosecurity and pandemic preparedness, and works to make biosecurity a global priority.
• Aims to “build accountability among governments, industry, and international organisations,” by identifying gaps in health security and tracking commitments to fill those gaps through projects like the Global Health Security Index and Global Biosecurity Dialogue.

Why is NTI | bio one of our top-rated charities?

NTI | bio meets our criteria to be a top-rated charity because one of our trusted evaluators, Founders Pledge, has conducted extensive evaluation highlighting its cost-effectiveness. (Our trusted evaluators are charitable giving experts who focus on impact — their research into the best charities means your donations can do even more good. Learn more about charity evaluators we trust and why.)

Another indicator of NTI bio’s cost-effectiveness is that Open Philanthropy, a trusted evaluative and impact-focused grantmaking organisation, has issued several grants supporting NTI | bio, including two in 2020 totaling $8.5 million.

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