Health ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) most industrialized nations on Friday vowed to continue to take concerted action to improve preparedness for and response to global health threats.

The ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States plus Mexico attended a ministerial meeting of the Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI) organized by the European Commission.

They agreed on research and development of drugs and vaccines against health threats, on border management measures and virus sample sharing for influenza pandemic preparedness, and on crisis communication mechanisms among their countries.

The GHSI was established in 2001 in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the United States. Its aim is to forge stronger global collaboration on health security by addressing health threats from chemical, biological and radio/nuclear agents and by developing preparedness and response on pandemic influenza.