Our Global Voices Posts

CDC Team Takes ME/CFS Around the World

Dr. Elizabeth Unger at the CFS/ME International Conference: Research, Innovation, and Discovery, Queensland, Australia, 2018. Photo by Vivienne Hughes.

Chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis and referred to as ME/CFS, is a debilitating illness that takes away the active lives of people who suffer from it. Between 17 – 24 million people worldwide are thought to have ME/CFS and, in the United States, this illness may affect up to 2.5 million Americans. Read More >

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World Meningitis Day 2020

World Meningitis Day 2020

She Knew Something Was Wrong Rahinatou Hamidou Amadou, an 18-year-old woman living in Niger, woke up one morning feeling fine, but by the afternoon knew that something was very wrong. She told her classmates she wasn’t feeling well, and a short time later could barely walk. She began suffering from an intense headache and a Read More >

Posted on by CDC MenAfriNet Team and Serge Ouedraogo, Human Interest Documentaries

Safe Water Saves Lives- How We Can Combat Cholera

CDC public health engineer Andrea Martinsen works on the Global WASH team within the Division of Global Health Protection (DGHP), where she responds to international disasters, disease outbreaks, and humanitarian crises that threatened the supply and provision of safe drinking water. In September 2018, an outbreak of cholera was declared when 25 patients were first Read More >

Posted on by Andrea Martinsen

Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Community by Community

Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission Turns Around A Widow’s Life

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a lead agency in the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), works every day with partners to accelerate HIV epidemic control efforts. Communities play a vital role in controlling and ultimately ending the epidemic. A key part of CDC’s efforts in Tanzania includes working with Read More >

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CDC Responders talk about their experiences in Rwanda

Travelers get their temperature checked while crossing the DRC border into Rwanda.

Serving in Rwanda as an Assistant Ebola Coordinator CDC epidemiologist Shayne Gallaway served as Assistant Ebola Coordinator during multiple deployments to Rwanda for the 2018 Eastern DRC Ebola Response. Gallaway and team provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Health to prevent, detect, and respond to viral hemorrhagic fevers, including Ebola. He is a Lieutenant Read More >

Posted on by Shayne Gallaway / Dr. Kristie E. N. Clarke / Dr. Samira Sami / Todd Lucas, MD, MPHTags , ,

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

World Day Remembrance for Road traffic victims

  The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims takes place every third Sunday in November. It serves as a way to: Remember the millions of people killed and injured in road traffic crashes, and recognize their families, friends, and communities; Pay tribute to the dedicated emergency responders, police, and medical professionals who deal with Read More >

Posted on by Erin K. Sauber-Schatz, PhD, MPHTags , ,

We can finish the job of Polio Eradication but, it will not be easy.

Dr. John Vertefeuille

This year, 2019, has been a challenging one for polio eradication.  Though we have made incredible gains in recent years, the polio program has faced two critical challenges. First, an increase in wild poliovirus (WPV) cases in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the only two countries with detected WPV cases since 2016. And second, a large increase Read More >

Posted on by Dr. John Vertefeuille Branch Chief, Polio Eradication Branch, Global Immunization Division, Center for Global Heath, Centers for Disease Control and PreventionTags , , ,

The Face of Dengue

Colorful bed nets

By mid-July 2019, more than 28,000 cases of dengue had been reported in Honduras with a total of 178 deaths. This outbreak is the biggest recorded in recent history. The total number of deaths in a seven-month period, marks this outbreak as having the highest death rate than any other in Honduras. It had been Read More >

Posted on by Beatriz LopezTags , ,

Strengthening the Heart of a Community in Thailand

Sampaow discusses her blood pressure reading with Monsasiporn and describes challenges she has been facing with self-monitoring. Photo credit: Henry Vandi

Henry Vandi is a CDC Foundation field employee in the Division of Global Health Protection in CDC’s Center for Global Health As we approached a house surrounded by lush, tropical vegetation, a petite but muscular woman with a warm smile greeted us on the porch. “Hello! I’ve been waiting for you!” Sampaow said cheerfully, wrapping Read More >

Posted on by Henry VandiTags ,

A life-long career dedicated to protecting people against mosquito borne diseases

Dr. Bill Brogdon (center) along with USN CAPT (retired) David Hoel and National Malaria Control Program staff at PMI Entomology Training in Uganda, 2015

Many people don’t choose a career path until after college, or even after a few years of working in a particular field. But then, many are not like my former colleague, Dr. William (Bill) Brogdon. Bill first entered the doors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a 17-year-old high school student and Read More >

Posted on by Audrey Lenhart, Research EntomologistTags , , , ,