Rebecca Martin is Director of the Center for Global Health at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr Martin has worked both domestically and internationally in immunization, HIV, and health system strengthening and now leads CDC’s global efforts to protect and improve health globally through science, policy, partnership, and evidence-based public health action. We asked her to reflect on CDC’s work in health security and recent experiences with Ebola and Zika.

Hosted by Steve Morrison. Produced by Cathryn Streifel. Edited by Ribka Gemilangsari.

Dr. Audrey Jackson, GHPC Senior Fellow, discusses the rising global threat of drug-resistant tuberculosis and its importance to U.S. health security. She presents recommendations to the U.S. government from her July 2017 report, “Protecting the United States from the Health Security Risk of Global Tuberculosis.”

Hosted by Sara Allinder. Produced by Cathryn Streifel. Edited by Ribka Gemilangsari.
 

On July 20, the Global Health Technologies Coalition unveiled a new report “Return on Innovation: Why Global Health R&D is a Smart Investment for the United States”. Courtney Carson, Policy and Advocacy Officer at the Global Health Technologies Coalition, discusses the report’s main findings.

Hosted by Steve Morrison. Produced by Cathryn Streifel. Edited by Ribka Gemilangsari.

The International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Science was held in Paris July 23-26. The conference brought together more than 5,000 scientists, clinicians, public health experts, community leaders, and people living with HIV to discuss the latest developments in HIV-related research. In this episode, Lisa Carty, Director of the US Liaison Office of UNAIDS, and Chris Beyrer, Desmond Tutu Professor of Public Health and Human Rights at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and former President of the IAS, discuss the main outcomes from the July Conference. Hosted by Sara Allinder. Produced by Cathryn Streifel. Edited by Ribka Gemilangsari.
 

Recent World Health Organization and UNICEF data reveal that one in 10 infants worldwide did not receive any vaccines in 2016. Vaccines are considered one of the most effective and cost effective public health tools. Yet, despite new focus on building immunization systems that can routinely reach all the world’s children with this potentially lifesaving intervention, many gaps remain. We asked Dr. Jon Kim Andrus, Adjunct Professor and Senior Investigator in the Division of Vaccines and Immunization at the University of Colorado, and Lora Shimp, Senior Immunization Technical Expert and Specialist in Communication and Behavior Change with John Snow, Inc., to reflect on what is being done to improve immunization systems, and why vaccinating children has been so difficult in some areas. Hosted by Nellie Bristol. Produced by Cathryn Streifel. Edited by Ribka Gemilangsari.
 

Beth Schlachter, executive director of FP2020, discussed the London Summit on Family Planning that took place in July 2017, at which approximately $2.5 billion in new money was pledged for international family planning. We asked her to reflect on the unique FP2020 partnership, its achievements as well as the challenges it faces in meeting its goals in the world’s 69 lowest income countries. She stressed the importance of continued U.S. leadership in family planning, both in its bilateral assistance and in technical support at the country level, and her concerns about the global impact that would result if the U.S. abandons this role.

Amb. Virginia Palmer, U.S. Ambassador to Malawi, is a powerful champion for addressing the needs of adolescent girls and young women as the fulcrum for all development goals. We asked her to reflect on efforts in Malawi to control the AIDS epidemic through DREAMS, a public-private partnership designed to prevent new infections in this population. She emphasized the importance of empowering them with education, health and community interventions. Such an approach is necessary to curb the HIV crisis in Malawi, which in turn impacts all other U.S. development programs, and ultimately global health security.

Hosted by Janet Fleischman. Produced by Cathryn Streifel. Edited by Ribka Gemilangsari.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb is the 23^rd Commissioner of Food and Drugs, sworn in on May 11, 2017. He is a physician, medical policy expert, and public health advocate who previously served as the FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs and before that as a senior advisor to the FDA Commissioner. In his first few months on the job, Dr. Gottlieb has made the opioid epidemic a top priority, taking early action to shape FDA’s leadership role. We asked him to reflect on his strategy for addressing the opioid epidemic.

Hosted by Steve Morrison. Produced by Cathryn Streifel. Edited by Ribka Gemilangsari.

Ukraine’s headline-grabbers usually center around macroeconomic stability, corruption, and the ongoing conflict in the East. For the last year, however, an important linchpin of reform – the health sector – has been the subject of intense new development and debate. Judyth Twigg, professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University, discusses recent health trends and health sector reform efforts in Ukraine.

Judyth Twigg is also a senior associate (non-resident) with CSIS. Her work focuses on issues of health, human capital, and health systems reform in Eurasia, as well as evaluations of human development and public sector management development assistance projects globally. Her most recent publications have analyzed health reform in post-Maidan Ukraine, with a specific focus on the response to its outbreak of polio in the summer of 2015.

Hosted by Steve Morrison. Produced by Cathryn Streifel. Edited by Ribka Gemilangsari.

Louise E. Shaw, Curator of the David J. Sencer CDC Museum, reflects on her experience curating the temporary exhibit EBOLA: People + Public Health + Political Will. This new exhibition is a look at the historic 2014-16 epidemic in West Africa, the U.S., and around the world. The exhibition explores the early days of the outbreak; the heroic work of West African and international healthcare workers; how CDC worked with the governments of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, and other partners; how America responded when Ebola reached the U.S.; and issues facing Ebola survivors, including stigma. CDC personnel deployed to West Africa assisted with the response efforts, and in Atlanta, thousands of CDC staff members provided logistics, communications, and management support. The exhibition features artifacts, first-person audio testimonials, innovative health communication materials, and documentaries; stunning photographs by leading photojournalists, and images taken by CDC staff deployed to West Africa. It features the GHPC documentary “Ebola in America: Epidemic of Fear” that illuminates how Americans experienced Ebola in 2014. The exhibit will be open through May 25, 2018.

Louise Shaw has served as the Curator of the David J. Sencer CDC Museum (formerly the Global Health Odyssey Museum) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since 2002. She is responsible for curating The Story of CDC, permanent exhibits tracing the history of CDC from its roots in the Public Health Service to contemporary times, and has organized temporary exhibitions such as EBOLA: People + Public Health + Political Will; VD: Values, Rights, Public Health; Health Is a Human Right: Race and Place in America, and Resettling in America: Georgia’s Refugee Communities. From 1983 – 1998, she served as Executive Director of Nexus Contemporary Art Center (now Atlanta Contemporary Art Center). She was Director of the Georgia State University Art Gallery from 1981-83, and served as Assistant Curator of the Atlanta Historical Society, (now Atlanta History Center) from 1977-1981

Hosted by Steve Morrison. Produced by Cathryn Streifel. Edited by Bryce Thompson.