Category: Archive

Laboratory Tests in the Fight to Save Sight

Trachoma, a disease of the eye caused by a bacteria called Chlamydia trachomatis, is the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide. Repeated infections cause the eyelid to turn inward, at which point the eyelashes scrape and permanently scar the cornea. At one time, trachoma was endemic in parts of Europe and the United States. Trachoma Read More >

Posted on by Diana Martin, PhD (Microbiologist, Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria)2 Comments

Saving Lives with Hand Hygiene in Sierra Leone

Float parade celebrating World Hand Hygiene Day at Pujehun, Sierra Leone

“See what is in your hands“ – Nanah Sesay Kamara, National IPC Coordinator, Sierra Leone Hundreds of millions of patients worldwide are affected by unsafe healthcare each year, and the burden is significantly higher in countries where resources are limited. Hand hygiene is one inexpensive and effective strategy to help ensure safe care. Clean hands Read More >

Posted on by Dr. Benjamin Park, Chief, International Infection Control ProgramTags , , ,

World No Tobacco Day – Tobacco Surveillance in Barangay Looc, Province of Zambales, Philippines; Reflections on GTCB’s Worldwide Impact

Global Adult Tobacco Survey pretest surveillance team, barangay Looc.

As an IT Specialist working for the CDC Foundation and assigned to the Office on Smoking and Health’s Global Tobacco Control Branch (GTCB), I have had the opportunity to travel to many places around the world.  We conduct several surveys and I mainly work with the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS).  I provide technical support Read More >

Posted on by Edward Rainey, IT Specialist and Public Health Analyst with the CDC Foundation, assigned to GTCB.Tags , , ,

Vietnam: Increased Surveillance Leads to Detection of Zika Virus

Vietnam EOC gathered for a briefing about the Zika virus.

Vietnam EOC gathered for a briefing about the Zika virus. Along with WHO, CDC experts Anthony Mounts, Trang Do, Michael Johansson, and Leisha Nolen provided consultation during the meeting. CDC Vietnam will enhance surveillance and temperature monitoring at border control areas and alert pregnant women to be aware and report any signs and symptoms. The Read More >

Posted on by Niki Pham, MSc.Tags , ,

Vietnam: Empowering Communities to Detect Potential Outbreaks Early

The Ministry of Health, PATH, CDC and other partners plan the event-based surveillance pilot project.

Diseases may start in local communities before they spread and become widespread outbreaks. Vietnam is harnessing the power of community members to identify potential outbreaks earlier to shorten response times and avert epidemics. A parent hears rumors from other parents about several children bitten by a rabid dog. A teacher sees an unusually high number Read More >

Posted on by Niki Pham, MSc.Tags , ,

A Ray of Hope for a Better-Prepared Ethiopia

Working alongside an EIS officer and an FETP resident on an investigation in Konso, Ethiopia, 2015.

I have called Ethiopia home for the past five years – it is a country that is very close to my heart. I was moved to humanitarian work by images of the famine when I was in college and subsequently adopted my daughter from here. As we face our worst drought in 50 years, I Read More >

Posted on by Lucy Boulanger, DGHP Program Director, EthiopiaTags ,

When It Was Even Scarier

Dr. Anne Schuchat with her mother Molly G Schuchat

This blog originally appeared on The Huffington Post on April 29, 2016 Four score and seven years ago, my mother was born into an America swarming with pathogens. Many were simply known as diseases of childhood; not all children survived them. My mother remembers how her family suffered when a cousin died during infancy from Read More >

Posted on by Anne Schuchat, MDTags , , , ,

Global Immunization: 50 Years of Work, Humanity, and Success

With her head tilted back, the picture depicts a young Nigerian girl, as she was holding her mouth wide open in order to receive her dose of orally-administered polio vaccine. This activity was taking place during Nigeria’s National - Stop Transmission of Polio Program (N-STOP), which is a refined and specialized offspring of two larger programs that train disease detectives: the (international) STOP program, and the Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program. N-STOP is a key element in Nigeria’s effort to rid the country of this crippling disease.

This blog was originally posted on MyAJC.com on April 26, 2016. Government is a creature of numbers and statistics, a generator of such vast quantities of data and reports that it’s hard to appreciate sometimes the full human dimension of what it takes to protect everyone from vaccine-preventable diseases. That reality comes to mind as Read More >

Posted on by Rebecca Martin, PhD, Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Center for Global Health3 CommentsTags , , ,

The “Ride” To Eliminating Malaria In Haiti

Malaria Zero has one bold goal: to eliminate malaria from the island of Hispaniola, which includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic, by 2020.

CDC works with Haiti and the Dominican Republic to eliminate malaria by 2020. #endmalaria #WMD2016 Tweet This The town of Dame Marie on the southwestern tip of Haiti, is 225 miles from the country’s teeming, chaotic capital Port-au-Prince. But getting there by car—on a good day—can easily take eight hard-fought, kidney-bashing, hairpin-turning hours. That may Read More >

Posted on by Michelle Chang, MD, Medical Epidemiologist/Director of Malaria Zero3 CommentsTags , , , , ,

World TB Day 2016

TB meeting in country

This blog was originally posted on Huffington Post on March 24, 2016. Today on World TB Day – more than a century after the scientific discovery of the bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB), TB continues to be one of the world’s most deadly infectious diseases and among the leading causes of death worldwide. That TB Read More >

Posted on by Dr. Shannon Hader, Director, Division of Global HIV & TB, CDC1 CommentTags