UKHSA have released their strategy for 2026 to 2029, identifying declining vaccine coverage, AMR, respiratory infections and environmental hazards as priorities of greatest concern.
The agency has pledged to maintain a high level of collaboration and a focus on innovation and quality in order to tackle the above threats and maintain the UK’s safety.
The most relevant deliverables to be achieved by 2029 are:
- A modernised, efficient, networked laboratory system with focused specialisms, consistent quality standards and integration with surveillance.
- Improved scanning, surveillance, assessment and analysis of infectious, environmental, chemical, radiological and nuclear hazards, providing outputs that inform timely and effective decision-making locally, regionally, nationally and globally.
- Increased use of pathogen genomics and metagenomics in the UKHSA and NHS platforms and pipelines to strengthen the identification and characterisation of novel and emerging pathogens, detect transmission and clusters, determine antimicrobial resistance genes and inform vaccine and diagnostic design.
- Evaluation of new and established prevention programmes and tools, including the next generation of vaccines, diagnostics and countermeasures, to enable their effective implementation.
- Tailored, practical insights that apply UKHSA expertise to enable health professionals, the NHS, government and other partners to take action to prevent or reduce the impact of health hazards.
- Resilient supply chains and the ability to quickly increase capacity so we can provide a timely supply of diagnostics, vaccines and medical countermeasures when there is a health threat.
- Surge capability, including workforce, laboratories, analytics and systems, that supports standing capacity, is routinely tested and can expand quickly in incidents.
- An enhanced programme of preparedness exercises, working with partners at all levels, focusing on aspects of response identified as the highest priority.
- Stronger research, industry, academic and community partnerships that strengthen evidence and readiness to respond to health threats, supporting innovation in UK life sciences.
- Deeper cross-government collaboration to better tackle risks that span human, animal and environmental health (One Health).
UKHSA has pledged to publicly report their progress, with significant advances in earlier detection of threats, stronger preparedness across the system, and greater public confidence in UK health security leadership.
