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Readiness and Response

CDC East turns to CDC West after Earthquake

CDC responds when disaster strikes, no matter how extreme or far away the challenge may be. However, a disaster might be so immense in scope that an unprecedented response is required.

That certainly was the case when a massive earthquake devastated Sichuan province on May 12, 2008. Public health facilities in Sichuan province were demolished by the earthquake. China CDC (named after CDC) had little or no capacity to assess the region’s health needs or monitor for potential disease outbreaks.

Responding to this urgent need, CDC experts worked with the CDC Foundation, private technology companies, and counterparts at China CDC to rapidly establish an emergency public health response system using state-of-the-art mobile technology. Because the use of mobile technology for surveillance is still an emerging tool in public health, neither CDC nor China CDC had an adequate number of handheld devices.

With coordination by the CDC Foundation, Hewlett Packard donated 500 HP Ipaq Travel Companions with Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to China CDC. Microsoft also donated handheld mobile devices directly to China CDC. USGlobalSat, Inc., a subsidiary of GPS manufacturer GlobalSat Technology of Taiwan, provided wireless Bluetooth GPS receivers to ensure that the devices donated by Microsoft had the GPS capabilities required by emergency response teams.

In early June 2008, a CDC team flew to Beijing to provide hands-on technical advice and training to China CDC on the use of the Field Adapted Survey Toolkit (FAST) exchange software and mobile technology. Disaster response forms from the CDC were translated into Chinese and incorporated into the FAST application. China CDC staff were trained on the basics of data collection and how to install and operate both the system and the equipment.

The relief assistance CDC provided during the earthquake relief effort is a model for public-private partnerships and showcases how international technical assistance can be accomplished through the practice of global health diplomacy. With the donated equipment and the new system that CDC helped design, China CDC is now able to quickly collect public health data in areas where communications capacity has been destroyed and send it to China CDC headquarters for analysis.

As efforts in China have shifted from emergency response to recovery, the health and well-being of an estimated five million displaced persons provides additional opportunities for CDC and China CDC to learn new lessons as they collaborate to rebuild the public health infrastructure in Sichuan province.

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