Category: immunization
Readying the World for Maternal RSV Vaccine
Updated from the original posting on Vaccines Work on February 18, 2019 By getting vaccinated in pregnancy, mothers can safeguard themselves and their infants in the first few vulnerable months of life against certain diseases. This strategy is a powerful approach for reaching two stages of life often underserved by current immunization programs—pregnancy and early Read More >
Posted on byThirty years of a Unique Partnership to End Polio-GPEI
In 1988, CDC joined three other partners (World Health Organization (WHO), United Nation International Children Fund (UNICF) and Rotary International to launch the ambitious Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). The world was a dangerous place with respect to polio. A case of polio occurred every 90 seconds, meaning 350,000 children had paralytic polio every year. Read More >
Posted on byPolio Eradication and Beyond: What the Polio Endgame Means for Public Health
The end of polio is in sight, with fewer cases of wild polio virus being reported yearly. Today, polio is on the cusp of eradication, with cases in only a few high-risk areas of three countries—Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. This brings the eradication effort to its final chapter, otherwise known as the polio endgame. The Read More >
Posted on byStrengthening Immunization in Challenging Settings
Providing routine immunization services is a global public health priority to protect families and children from vaccine-preventable diseases such as polio, measles, and cholera. In South Sudan, the world’s newest country, the need is enormous. Without vaccination, children and their communities may be vulnerable to preventable but deadly and disabling diseases. From 2008 to 2012, Read More >
Posted on byLooking Back With Pride….Looking Ahead With Confidence
A historical overview on eliminating Meningitis in Africa In the 1990’s epidemics of meningitis sweeping across the vast span of the African continent known as the “meningitis belt” were claiming hundreds of thousands of lives and there was not much the global public health community was able to do. We all knew that a vaccine Read More >
Posted on byPreventing Local Outbreaks from Becoming Global Pandemics: FETP Enhances Capabilities to Track Diseases and Stop Them at the Source
Christine Kihembo, FETP graduate from Uganda led a study in her country on Podoconiosis, a neglected tropical diseases that affects about 4 million people around the world. Above, the typical asymmetrical lymphedema (lower limb swelling) seen in podoconiosis. The skin on the affected limbs is thickened with warty and mossy nodules and toes are disfigured. Read More >
Posted on byCDC Maintains Vigilance to Eradicate Polio in Northern Nigeria
Vaccines save lives. Today, millions of children have a chance at surviving and living healthy, productive thanks to the introduction and increasingly widespread use of vaccines against major diseases that cripple and kill children over the last few decades. These diseases include polio, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, influenza and measles. The essence of our work could Read More >
Posted on byMeasles: A Forgotten, but Formidable Foe
Since its inception, the CDC has played a major role in advancing the health security in dozens of countries by improving response times to the outbreaks of several vaccine-preventable diseases. Furthermore, its partnerships with other countries and philanthropic organizations have not only stopped outbreaks, but also improved disease surveillance, laboratory science, emergency operations, and health Read More >
Posted on byOn Global Health and Being “Prepared”
What does it mean to be “prepared?” And, more to the point, what does it mean for working in global health? For some, being “prepared” means setting aside cash for emergencies and keeping their insurance up-to-date. For others, it means a plan of action or even a fresh supply of duct tape, a list of Read More >
Posted on by 1 CommentStopping Viruses that Don’t Respect Borders
CDC’s Global Immunization Plan In the first seven months of 2016 alone, 13 states reported outbreaks of measles, a highly infectious disease that killed 400 to 500 Americans a year and hospitalized nearly 50,000 more as recent as the 1950s. With the advent of the measles vaccine, routine immunizations, and the federal Children’s Health Insurance Read More >
Posted on by