Category: global health security

Global Health Security in Africa: Collaborations Between CDC and African Partners

2012 investigation of Ebola virus in Uganda

The ambition and scope of the Global Health Security Agenda are clear. Its reach can be discerned from the very first word: global. The Agenda’s overarching goal is just as expansive—making the world safer and more secure by preventing epidemics and outbreaks, detecting them more rapidly, and responding effectively to lessen the health, economic, and Read More >

Posted on by Thomas Kenyon, MD MPH, Director of CDC Center for Global HealthLeave a commentTags , , , ,

World Cup serving as real-world test for new disease detection technology

World Cup soccer ball

    With the World Cup underway in all its frenzied glory, you can be forgiven for missing another major effort currently underway in Brazil that represents the first large scale, real-life, real-world test of important new technology. And no, it’s not the goal-line technology that’s being used for the first time at soccer’s biggest Read More >

Posted on by Ilanit Kateb, MBA, Public Health Advisor, CDC Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) Branch1 CommentTags , , , ,

Communication Matters in Global Health Deployments

During the simulation exercise, ECN trainees deployed to the site of a mock disaster in Avully, Switzerland.

Communication matters. That’s not a new idea. Many of us have learned this the hard way. This concept is being applied in a new, more comprehensive way for a key purpose—to help the World Health Organization (WHO) communicate more effectively, with more clarity and purpose during humanitarian and public health emergencies. The idea is to Read More >

Posted on by Gaya Gamhewage, MD, Coordinator, WHO Communication Capacity Building Team; Founder, WHO Emergency Communication NetworkLeave a commentTags , , ,

Public Health Informatics in Action in Malawi: Making life easier for healthcare workers and patients while improving quality through an innovative national Electronic Medical Record System

Instituting an Electronic Medical Record System reduces the need to manage and store growing volumes of patient charts, a major challenge in resource-limited settings.

Keeping track of even one patient undergoing treatment for HIV/AIDS can be complicated enough. Doing it for over 472,865 patients when you’re a low income country coping with high demand and a sputtering economy magnifies the complexity. Which is why Malawi’s story – and its solution – is attracting attention and praise. It’s a story Read More >

Posted on by Denise Giles, M.P.H., Health Scientist, CDC-MalawiLeave a commentTags , , , , , ,

FETP Work in South Sudan Benefits the Whole World

I’ve been with the Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) for 2.5 years now, where I am currently the resident advisor (RA) in South Sudan. My epidemiology training has provided me with the opportunity to gain a wide variety of experiences; prior to joining FETP, I served as an epidemiologist with Médecins Sans Frontières-Switzerland (MSF-CH), working Read More >

Posted on by James Ransom, PhD, MPH, CDC Field Epidemiology Training Program Branch1 CommentTags , , , , , , ,

Helsinki, Finland – The Next Step in Accelerating Global Health Security

CDC Director Tom Frieden opens the February 13 Global Health Security Launch Event hosted by Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

When senior leaders from more than 30 countries and 4 international organizations converge on Helsinki on May 5th for two days of intensive discussion, the over-arching topic will be one that is closely associated with Finland’s capital city – security. But this time, unlike 1975 when Helsinki hosted the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Read More >

Posted on by CAPT (USPHS) Eric Kasowski, DVM, MD, MPH – Chief, CDC Global Health Security BranchLeave a commentTags , , , , ,

Haiti makes solid progress in reducing TB

Macarthur Charles, MD, PhD, CDC’s TB Advisor in Haiti

On World Tuberculosis Day, a personal account from the frontline, Haiti, which has the highest reported rates of TB in the western hemisphere. There is a certain poetic symmetry to my return to Haiti this year as tuberculosis (TB) advisor. It was exactly 10 years ago that I first set foot on Haitian soil as Read More >

Posted on by Macarthur Charles, MD, PhD, CDC’s TB Advisor in Haiti4 CommentsTags , , , , , ,

DPDx: 15 Years of Strengthening Laboratory Capacity for Parasitic Disease Diagnosis

CDC’s DPDx helps labs around the world identify parasites like Taenia saginata. (Photo courtesy of David Snyder/CDC Foundation)

  The inquiries and images come from almost every state in the United States, and often with a sense of urgency. Still others arrive from Argentina and Germany, Italy, Japan, China, New Zealand, India—and dozens more countries around the globe. Each time the question for CDC’s parasite identification laboratory, known as DPDx, is the same: Read More >

Posted on by Alexandre J. da Silva, PhD, CDC DPDx4 CommentsTags , , , , ,

Strengthening Global Health Security Protects Americans

The 5 Ways Diseases in Other Countries Can Kill You

  This blog was originally posted on CNN.com on February 13, 2014.   The world is smaller and people are more mobile than at any time in history. This makes it easier than ever for what’s happening anywhere on the globe to harm Americans’ health. Here are five ways diseases in other countries pose a Read More >

Posted on by CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden5 CommentsTags , , , , , , ,

Improving Disease Surveillance and Outbreak Response in the Latin American and Caribbean Region through the Field Epidemiology Training Program

  With increased global travel, everyone is more vulnerable to emerging and reemerging public health threats. This vulnerability is why every country needs a team of highly trained epidemiologists that can detect and rapidly respond to outbreaks and is why CDC is committed to working with countries to establish and support Field Epidemiology Training Programs Read More >

Posted on by Dr. Victor Caceres, CDC Field Epidemiology Training Program BranchLeave a comment