Category: Global Health & Development

By Task Force for Global Health One of its kind initiative in state aims to better understand the diseases and treatment outcomes When Bentley Vining was born, he was diagnosed with a rare inherited disorder that required him to be on a lifelong special diet. His mother, Courtney, submitted a claim for the medical formulas […]

By Terri Heyns, Associate Vice President for Communications for CDC Foundation Just weeks ago, Lily Rivera saved a life. On the corner of Peace and Broad in Providence, Rhode Island, Lily works at an agency that organizes outreach teams and provides education to high-risk populations struggling with opioid addiction. “Every day is a different day,” […]

By: Charles Redding, CEO and President of MedShare According to the UN Refugee Agency we are now witnessing the highest levels of displacement of people on record. An unprecedented 70.8 million people around the world have been forced from home. Among them are nearly 25.9 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18. There are also millions […]

By Beth Hodges, Senior Marketing Specialist, MAP International For 62 years Chantou hid her face. Shunned by her community, Chantou spent the majority of her life alone and socially isolated. Born into one of the poorest communities in northern Cambodia, she suffered from the cleft palate that left her face deformed. Unable to attend school, […]

By: Gilberte (“Gigi”) Bastien, PhD , Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Associate Director of Office of Global Health Equity at Morehouse School of Medicine In 2016, in the wake of the worst Ebola outbreak in recorded history, I spent nearly a year in Liberia as a Fogarty Global Health Fellow seeking to better understand the […]

By Judy Monroe, MD, president and CEO of the CDC Foundation On Wednesday, July 17, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak in the eastern region of The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. This decision emphasizes the growing threat posed by the current outbreak in […]

By: Charles Redding Who can forget the tragic sight of the victims of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa during its peak in 2014? Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a rare and deadly disease most commonly affecting people and nonhuman primates (monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees). The virus spreads to people through direct contact with bodily […]

By The Task Force for Global Health Polio remains a global health threat, despite the existence of highly successful vaccination programs. Thanks to new funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), The Task Force for Global Health is mobilizing to support global polio eradication efforts through the Polio Eradication Surge Capacity Support […]

By Amanda Gailey and Suzanne McMillan In Tanzania, there are 566 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births, representing the sixth highest maternal mortality ratio in the world, according to the Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey. The Kigoma Region, which consists of rural and poor communities located in western Tanzania, has the poorest maternal health […]

By Charles Redding, MedShare On Sunday, June 16, 2019 Father’s Day will be celebrated in the United States.  Some form of this day is now celebrated in over 111 countries. The day is intended to recognize fathers and father figures for the significant role they play in parenthood and their children’s lives. Even with this, […]

Beth Hodges, Senior Marketing Specialist, MAP International It’s every parent’s nightmare. Your child is sick and you’re powerless to help them. This was the case for the parents of seven-year-old, Keza from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Keza had developed premature cataracts which unknowingly robbed her of her eyesight. What started as infrequent headaches […]

Drew Reynolds, Program Director, Childspring International drew@childspringintl.org Each year, surgically treatable conditions account for approximately 30% of the global burden of disease and an estimated 5 billion people go without access to critical surgical care. Though many surgical procedures save lives, promote economic development, and are known to be cost-effective, there remains a lack of […]

By Diana Robelotto Ever wondered who are the first people sent out to investigate when a disease outbreak occurs? Enter the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officers. EIS officers are boots-on-the-ground “disease detectives” who investigate outbreaks and work on a variety of essential long-term and emergency response health challenges […]

By Charles Redding, MedShare I recently participated as a guest speaker at a Techonomy Conference in New York, along with a representative of MedShare’s global health partner, Philips Healthcare. The conversations both on-stage and off, left us re-energized to continue grappling with the central question of the event: will tech destroy or save the planet? […]

Photo above: Patients wait for care at the Centro de Salud Granada health center in Granada, Nicaragua. Photo credit: Billy Weeks. By: Dave Ross, ScD Last month, we met with World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and among the topics that came up was Universal Health Coverage, a subject that is close to our […]

By Rachna Chandora, MPH, team lead for programs for the CDC Foundation We all know someone who has suffered from a cardiovascular disease (CVD), which include disorders of the heart and blood vessels such as coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, rheumatic heart disease and other conditions. Did you know CVD is the leading cause of […]

By: Dale Hanson-Bourke, MAP International To Albertina and her husband, every child is a gift from God. So even though her seven children were almost grown, she was thrilled to discover she was pregnant again. And when her son was born with cerebral palsy and other disabilities, she continued to celebrate his birth, even though […]