2014 13 December Newsletter

1. Greetings and welcome to the latest edition of our growing newsletter! Volume 1, Number 6 News, Reports and Shout-Outs Our dear friends and colleagues at the Center for Global Health were recently featured in United Airlines Hemispheres Magazine in a supplemental Dossier. This is great exposure both nationally and internationally, here is the link to their website page: http://globalhealth.uic.edu/news/hemispheres- supplement-dossier 1

2. Another big and heartfelt shout- out is to dear friend and amazing person, Jaclyn Schiff. She has single handedly built the super helpful: https://www.facebook.com/groups /GlobalhealthCHI/ But wait, that’s not all! She’s also launched a great way to learn about upcoming programs - http://tinyurl.com/ChiGlobal it’s great Grant and Funding Opportunities Pan-African Awards for Entrepreneurship in Education open for applications The Saville Foundations Pan-African Awards for Entrepreneurship seeks to identify outstanding education initiatives across Africa that are capable of replication and scale. Applications are due by December 12, 2014. http://teachamantofish.org.uk/pan-african-awards 2

3. Check out one of my favorite and most helpful sites, the Chicago Donors Forum https://donorsforum.org/tools-resources Todd Summers, Senior Adviser, Global Health Policy Center writes that India is the second-largest grant recipient of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, receiving 6% of Global Fund grants over the next three years. This reflects the severity of India’s health needs: it has the world’s highest burden of tuberculosis cases and the third highest number of people living with HIV. At the same time, India has a growing middle-income economy, complete with a space program and its own foreign aid budget. This creates a paradox for funders seeking to target limited resources: most donors have moved out of India even though its health needs remain substantial. To better understand this challenge and develop recommendations for the Global Fund’s future relationship with India, the Global Health Policy Center at CSIS sent a team to India to engage national and state level politicians, donors, non-governmental groups, and civil society 3

4. organizations. Its findings and conclusions are captured in a new paper, “India and the Global Fund: Implications for Discussions on Transition and Sustainability,” authored by Todd and his colleague Katherine Peck. It argues that the Global Fund should engage the Indian government to negotiate a mutually agreeable plan to reduce substantially its assistance over time, continuing to support civil society groups key to reaching vulnerable populations while transitioning to the Indian government responsibility for financing prevention, care, and treatment services for the three diseases. To read the full report, see: http://csis.org/files/publication/141205_Summers_IndiaGlobalFund_Web.pdf Health Activist Awards Nomination Now Open The Fourth Annual WEGO Health Activist Awards are in full swing, and we wanted to invite you to nominate a leader in your health community for a Health Activist Award. Click here to nominate! https://awards.wegohealth.com/nominate?sp_email=chris@centerforglobalinitiatives.org&sp_rid= MzE2MDQ0NDg2MTgS1&sp_mid=10031873&utm_source=silverpop&utm_medium=email&ut m_campaign=WEGOHealth_HAAwards_SegmentA_Wave1_2014-11- 26%20(1)&utm_content=WEGOHealth_HAAwards_SegmentA_Wave1_2014-11- 26%20(1)&spMailingID=10031873&spUserID=MzE2MDQ0NDg2MTgS1&spJobID=422300929& spReportId=NDIyMzAwOTI5S0 The WEGO Health Activist Awards were created to embody the mission of WEGO Health: to empower Health Activists, those patient influencers who raise awareness, share information, advocate for others and support their communities. The Health Activist Awards are a way to recognize these leaders for the work they do. Take a moment to nominate a leader in your community for a Health Activist Award today. Not sure who to nominate? Think of someone in your community who: Raises awareness Advocates for others Shares information Eradicates stigma Inspires you or your community 4

5. Upcoming Conferences and Events http://www.inmed.us/events/exploring-medical-missions- conference If you’re in Chicago, mark your calendars for Wednesday, January 7th for the regular monthly Center for Global Health network meeting at its new permanent location in the Gerald Moss Auditorium located at 909 S. Wolcott. Beginning at noon Dr. John Arthur (Jack) Herrmann will be presenting “One Health: We're all in this Together” Dr. Herrmann's talk will be available for 1 CME credit, at the completion of his presentation participants should be able to : 1. Explain how human, animal and ecosystems health are interrelated. 2. Recognize the need for effective communication between health care providers - in human and animal health care and with public health professionals 3. Describe how surveillance systems for infections and non-infectious diseases across human and animal populations within critical ecosystems could be integrated to effectively predict and manage outbreaks. Location: Gerald Moss Auditorium 909 S. Wolcott, Chicago 5

6. From International to Transnational: Transforming the Psychology of Women International Summit before APA Convention in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, August 4th & 5th 2015. Deadline for Submissions: January 15, 2015 The goal of this International Summit is to foster new directions in the psychology of women through exploration and awareness of international perspectives. The Summit’s programming will include speakers, work groups, and a poster session social hour. What makes this Summit unique is its action-oriented approach—Work groups comprised of women in different stages in their careers will be formed to develop specific products (e.g., a book, special journal issue, undergraduate and graduate curriculum, policy, best practices guide, etc.) and long-term goals that promote the transformation of the psychology of women. Call for Proposals - Conference Website - Submit a Proposal http://www.intlpsychwomensummit.com/ Ebola and Infectious Disease Related Big fan of Hans’ work, now it’s being applied to global health! http://news.sciencemag.org/africa/2014/12/star- statistician-hans-rosling-takes-ebola 6

7. Aggregated News Reports from: EBOLA Genetic Research, Factory-Style Ace science writer Gina Kolata embeds in a former beer distribution center in Cambridge that has a second life as a high-tech gene-analyzing factory. Think 10,000 test tubes in line for processing 24/7. The Broad Institute’s latest challenge: Ebola. With samples from West Africa, technicians and scientists are tracking the virus’s mutations, finding if some strains are deadlier than others, determining if some people are more resistant than others—and why. They also are studying Lassa fever. “The research is emblematic of a new direction in public health, which uses powerful genetic methods and applies them to entire populations. The aim is to get a detailed picture of disease epidemiology, as the disease is happening,” writes Kolata. The New York Times Related: Life on the Ebola frontline: 'Fear is overpowering even the health workers' – The Guardian Poverty Matters Blog Related: Obama to urge Congress to loosen purse strings for Ebola fight – Reuters ZOONOTIC DISEASES Veterinarians are Sentries How do we find the next Ebola, rabies, West Nile before it infects humans? Look for it in wild animals—a concept that underlies the One Health Initiative and has the potential to prevent medical disasters. Around 75 percent of newly emerging diseases in humans are zoonotic, and they result in 2.7 million deaths every year, according to a recent study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. While the CDC houses a One Health office, the surveillance of animal disease is still scattered across American bureaucracy, and there’s plenty of room for better communication between agencies, says veterinarian Tracey McNamara. The Atlantic Coaxing Secrets from Clouds of Bats Bats— with a seemingly unique ability to harbor viruses—have long drawn the interest of disease detectives. 7

8. This story delves into the fascinating traits and habits of bats. It follows the work of epidemiologists Jon Epstein, from the University of Pennsylvania, and Ian Lipkin, from Columbia University, tracking down the fleshy fliers in Saudi Arabia and hunting a new, deadly coronavirus that would eventually be known as the Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS. While epidemiologists are working hard to study emerging zoonotic diseases, people like disease ecologist Peter Daszak emphasize the importance of also understanding the role played by humans, encroaching on the domains of animals—and the viruses they harbor. The Scientist Related: Saudi Arabia reports new MERS cases, infection control plan – CIDRAP PLAGUE Preventing the “Nuclear Blast” Madagascar is still fighting a plague outbreak. As noted on Nov. 24, more than 100 cases and 40 deaths have reported. The challenges now are to limit the cases of bubonic plague (transmitted from fleas to human) and prevent the “nuclear blast”—when an infected person becomes a transmitter. This is pneumonic plague, which is a serious health risk in dense populations like urban slums or prisons, according to Christophe Vogt with the International Committee of the Red Cross. Vogt, based in Antananarivo, describes Madagascar’s annual plague outbreaks, ICRC’s training of “rat brigades” and the rats in his own home. The Guardian TUBERCULOSIS TB or Not TB? Drone is the Answer MSF is about the last organization you would expect to use drones. But they’re sending in the drones to help contain Papua New Guinea’s TB epidemic. A lack of diagnostic laboratories is a major impediment to fighting the disease in the island nation, where 1 person dies every hour from the disease, so MSF is deploying a pilot mission of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to collect samples from remote areas. The longest flight so far: 26 miles over swamp and jungle in 55 minutes (including a recharge stop). By car, it would have taken 4 hours. The vast, swamp-like wilderness of the country is making it difficult to bring TB under control, according to MSF; the country is reporting 15,000 new infections a year. Vice News Technology Over Quarantine With Ebola quarantine debates in the news, New York City has already developed a system that relies on technology to manage TB, another highly infectious disease, 8

9. Although the state of New York allows for strict quarantines on TB patients (including detention in Bellevue Hospital lock-ups), that proves unnecessary for all but a few of the 650 residents with active TB every year. For most, home isolation until treatment brings the bacteria down to noncontagious levels will suffice. After that, patients are allowed to move around freely, as long as they take their daily pills, under the watch—via smartphone—of a health official. NPR Blog (Shots) Lessons from San Francisco’s 150-Year Fight TB came to San Francisco with the gold rush in the mid-1800s, launching a long battle against the scourge, documented in this piece by Anne Kavanaugh that takes us through the start of the AIDS era, and up to the present multi-drug resistant era. Now, UCSF is now taking lessons learned from San Francisco, and applying them across the globe— providing support for research in Tanzania and Zimbabwe to examine multidrug-resistant TB and transmission between people and animals; helping to develop better diagnostics in Uganda, and bringing together private doctors with public health initiatives in India and Indonesia. University of California San Francisco SUPERBUGS Threat Without Borders Doctors in India are reporting an overwhelming number of cases of resistant newborn infections in India, and the implications could be global. Bacteria like Klebsiella and Acinetobacter, found in untreated human waste, frequently cause the infections, which killed more than 58,000 babies in India last year. With India’s notoriously poor sanitation and lack of toilets, doctors depend heavily on antibiotics to treat infections that could be avoided with better sanitation. India is far from alone. We know that overuse of antibiotics is dropping in the US and Europe, but those reductions are more than offset by increases in the developing world. The Quote: “India’s dreadful sanitation, uncontrolled use of antibiotics and overcrowding coupled with a complete lack of monitoring the problem has created a tsunami of antibiotic resistance that is reaching just about every country in the world,” said Timothy R. Walsh, a microbiology professor at Cardiff University. The New York Times CHOLERA Better Than Gold Oral rehydration therapy (ORT) has been praised as the “gold standard” cholera treatment, but some believe that the mixture of drinking water with salts and sugar could still be improved. 9

10. Knowing that the glucose needed to help the body absorb the salts makes cholera-causing bacterium produce more toxin, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPEL) theorized that replacing the sugar with rice could reduce bacterial toxicity by almost 75%. Since people remain infectious until the diarrhea stops, that change could make patients less likely to infect others who may be exposed to any body fluids. In a PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases article, the EPEL researchers looked at numbers from the 2010 cholera epidemic in Haiti, and said that if a rice starch-based solution had been used there, cases could have been reduced by 30%. See ORT's value in fighting Ebola in today's top story. Voice of America Thanks! I hope you have found this issue to be informative and helpful in your work. Please send me any information you’d like posted in upcoming issues. This Newsletter and mailing are a manual process, so if you would no longer like to receive this Newsletter, just send me an email. Any recommendations to improve this communique would be most appreciated! And if you’d like to support the Center’s work with a tax deductible donation, that would be fantastic and do a great deal: http://centerforglobalinitiatives.org/donateNow.cfm Cheers, and thank you for your work, Chris http://DrChrisStout.com Founding Director, http://CenterForGlobalInitiatives.org LinkedIn Influencer: http://www.linkedin.com/influencer/3055695 American Psychological Association International Humanitarian Award Winner, http://www.apa.org/monitor/dec07/rockstar.html 10

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