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Coordinating Office for Global Health

GDD 2006 Accomplishments

The network of GDD Centers relies on hallmarks of sound public health practice and monitors accomplishments in five key areas. During 2006, accomplishments in these areas include:

  1. Investigating and responding to outbreaks
    • Staff collectively responded to more than 144 outbreaks, including Rift Valley Fever (Kenya), diethyleyne glycol poisoning (Panama), Streptococcus suis (China), and botulism (Thailand)
  2. Conducting surveillance to track diseases (and to detect unusual changes that may signal an outbreak)
    • Established population-based surveillance in two GDD Centers and actively developing it in the other three
  3. Conducting research on the causes and mechanisms of emerging diseases
    • Discovered three new pathogens
    • Established new testing capacity for more than 11 conditions
  4. Providing state-of-the-art training in key disciplines including laboratory sciences and epidemiology
    • Graduated 27 participants from the 2-year FETP
    • Trained more than 900 people in epidemiology/lab short-term trainings
  5. Networking and improving communications
    • Collectively created a standardized curriculum on avian and pandemic influenza rapid response training and trained over 100 rapid responders from 14 countries
    • Initiated harmonization of surveillance and lab methods to enable cross-country comparisons
    • Provided regional support in three WHO regions
    • Improved communication and integration with WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN)

Staff in each of the Centers work with one another, with global partners (including the U.S. Departments of State and Defense, WHO, and USAID), and with the Ministries of Health in affected countries to build capacity and to respond quickly to any emerging infectious disease.

 

 

Content Source: Coordinating Office for Global Health
Page last modified: July 30, 2006