Category: Global Health & Development

By Charles Redding, CEO & President On August 14, 2021, a devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck western Haiti causing over 1400 casualties, 6900 injuries and widespread disaster. MedShare, along with other humanitarian aid organizations, are actively responding to this disaster to once again provide critical medical aid to victims and health workers. When natural disasters […]

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, Vice President-Health, The Carter Center Completely wiping out a disease is nearly impossible. In all of history, only one human disease has been eradicated — smallpox, in 1980 after a herculean global vaccination campaign that took decades to complete. Polio persists (albeit in small numbers) despite the availability of a highly […]

The Center for Victims of Torture, the largest treatment program of its kind for survivors of torture and war worldwide and a leader in global mental health, operates a small clinic in Clarkston, Georgia.  Often called the “most diverse square mile in America,” Clarkston is the center of the state’s refugee community and home to […]

In the past 15 months, the world has gained an entirely new vocabulary: one that includes new or previously little-known terms like “COVID” and “coronavirus,” as well as phrases like “monoclonal antibodies,” “mRNA,” “variants” and even “Zoom fatigue.” Keeping up to date with these phrases and their meanings, as well as the latest recommendations from […]

By Charles Redding, MedShare CEO & President Access to basic and specialized healthcare in Central America largely depends on socioeconomic status and geography (urban or rural). Honduras has worked to improve access and quality of care, particularly in rural settings. Despite improvements to health services and systems, rural populations still have difficulty accessing basic health […]

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, Vice President-Health, and Barbara J. Smith, Vice President-Peace, The Carter Center Back in the turbulent 1960s, there was a popular poster — today it would be a meme on social media — that said, “War is not healthy for children and other living things.”  More than 50 years and uncounted conflicts […]

By The Task Force for Global Health The Task Force for Global Health was founded nearly 40 years ago to advance health equity. Here is what health equity means to us. In 1984, only 20% of children were vaccinated. Those children primarily lived in high-income countries, leaving hundreds of millions of children elsewhere at risk […]

By Charles Redding, MedShare CEO & President The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call […]

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, Vice President-Health, The Carter Center Following on my commentary last month regarding health care capacity building at the community level, it’s fitting now to acknowledge our government partners’ eagerness and ability to exercise ownership of programs taking place within their borders.  A prime example is the Carter Center’s Public Health Training […]

By Dr. Stephanie Adams, Interim Executive Director, Global Health Crisis Coordination Center According to the CDC, Native American and Native Alaskan persons are 3.3 times more likely, Black persons 2.9 times more likely, and Hispanic persons 2.8 times more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 compared with Whites. Even as the nation rounds the curve […]

By Candace Wheeler A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, handwashing remains a key mitigation strategy to prevent the spread of the virus, but access to clean water, effective handwashing supplies and restrooms can be challenging for people experiencing homelessness. To address this need, the CDC Foundation in partnership with Clean the World Foundation, with financial […]

By Charles Redding, MedShare CEO & President Medical mission teams represent an essential component of global health delivery. Most medical mission teams provide primary health care and surgical services for communities with limited access to health care in middle and lower-income countries.   A large part of MedShare’s health system interventions each year involve supporting medical […]

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, Vice President of Health Programs, The Carter Center The Carter Center’s neglected tropical disease programs treat and prevent Guinea worm disease, trachoma, river blindness, lymphatic filariasis, and schistosomiasis, with the goal to control, eliminate, and eradicate. Beyond the alleviation of the human suffering caused by these illnesses, this work brings ancillary […]

In the first year of the pandemic, nearly 30 million Americans were diagnosed with COVID-19 and 540,000 died, with a disproportionate number of cases and deaths suffered by people of color. In The Task Force for Global Health’s home base of Atlanta, Georgia, several organizations have been working to meet the needs of those communities, […]

By Hannah R. Buchdahl When the CDC Foundation first reached out to jurisdictions across the United States to assist with COVID-19 response efforts, American Samoa didn’t need the type of surge staff the Foundation was hiring for its COVID-19 Corps. At that time, the unincorporated U.S. territory in the South Pacific didn’t require contact tracers, […]

By Charles Redding, MedShare CEO & President Poor maternal, newborn and child health care remain a significant problem in low- and middle-income countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that worldwide, 250,000–280,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth every year and an estimated 6.55 million children die under the age of five each year. The […]

By Dr. Kashef Ijaz, Vice President-Health, The Carter Center Global mental health has been called the “silent,” “parallel,” or “next” pandemic.  In fact, mental health was deteriorating even before the COVID-19 crisis unfolded. In 2018, The Carter Center contributed to a Lancet Commission on Global Mental Health, which says that “the global burden of disease […]

By Maria Thacker Goethe, MPH, CEO, Center for Global Health Innovation On April 25, the world recognizes World Malaria Day because it remains a leading cause of preventable illness and death around the world. Despite being eliminated from the U.S. decades ago, malaria  continues to affect American lives.  Malaria in the U.S. – 2017 with […]

By Judy Monroe, MD In a special episode of the CDC Foundation’s podcast, Contagious Conversations, I spoke with Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, the 19th director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In this interview, Dr. Walensky discusses the career path that led to her new role as CDC director, her experience […]

By Charles Redding, MedShare CEO & President World Health Day is April 7, and will focus on building a fairer, healthier world. As COVID-19 has highlighted, some people are able to live healthier lives and have better access to health services than others – entirely due to the conditions in which they are born, grow, […]