The CommonHealth

In mid-February, Steve Morrison of the CSIS Global Health Policy Center attended the Munich Security Conference. There, he moderated a roundtable on health in disordered settings, a town hall on COVID-19, and a dinner with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg. He also spoke with a variety of policymakers, donors, and agency heads that are leading the response to the coronavirus epidemic. In this second episode, Steve speaks with Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Health Emergencies Programme. They discuss what dynamics are driving this outbreak, why it should be seen as a security risk as well as a health risk, and what the WHO is doing. They also talk about “infodemics”: the online epidemic of misinformation and weaponized social media.

In mid-February, Steve Morrison of the CSIS Global Health Policy Center attended the Munich Security Conference. There, he moderated a roundtable on health in disordered settings, a town hall on COVID-19, and a dinner with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg. He also spoke with a variety of policymakers, donors, and agency heads that are leading the response to the coronavirus epidemic. In this first episode, Steve speaks with Orin Levine, director of Vaccine Delivery at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. They discuss the investments the Foundation is making into the epidemic response, the urgent need for diagnostics and treatments, and how this infection might play out over the next year.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is closely watching the coronavirus outbreak, also known as COVID-19, as it spreads quickly throughout China and around the world. As knowledge on COVID-19 evolves, Take as Directed will bring you the latest updates in this miniseries Coronavirus Crisis Update. CSIS’s Steve Morrison, Andrew Schwartz, and Jude Blanchette discuss the scientific, political, and economic ramifications of the virus with top experts in global health, China, international economics, and more.

Late last year, the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America's Health Security released its final report on ending the cycle of crisis and complacency in U.S. global health security. This miniseries of Take as Directed will delve into the detail of some of the Commission's recommendations. In this final episode of the miniseries, Steve talks with Rebecca Martin, Director of the Director of the Center for Global Health at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They discuss the CDC’s work on training field disease detectives and laboratory workers worldwide, how the CDC works across the world to respond to outbreaks, and the Commission’s recommendation that the US re-invest in Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA). They also discuss the CDC’s role in communicating credible science and evidence to children and to parents on social media.

Late last year, the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America's Health Security released its final report on ending the cycle of crisis and complacency in U.S. global health security. This miniseries of Take as Directed will delve into the detail of some of the Commission's recommendations. In this second episode of the miniseries, Steve talks with Ambassador Jimmy Kolker, former assistant secretary for global affairs at the US Department of Health and Human Services and a member of the Commission; and Carolyn Reynolds, senior associate at the Center. They discuss trends in global investment in health security, how countries have been preparing themselves for an outbreak, and the Commission’s recommendation that the World Bank establish a Pandemic Preparedness Challenge, that could incentivize countries to invest in their own preparedness.

Late last year, the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America's Health Security released its final report on ending the cycle of crisis and complacency in U.S. global health security. This miniseries of Take as Directed will delve into the detail of some of the Commission's recommendations. In this first episode of the miniseries, Steve talks with Dr. Richard Hatchett, CEO of Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). CEPI is a new model of partnership to finance and co-ordinate the development of technologies against high priority public health threats and emerging infectious diseases with pandemic or epidemic potential. Richard and Steve discuss the report's recommendation to systematically confront two urgent technology challenges: the need for new vaccines and therapeutics; and the public health communications crisis.

This episode examines the changing nature of war and conflict and why gender-based violence (GBV) has become a central feature in crises around the world. GHPC Senior Associate Janet Fleischman sits down with Melissa Dalton, senior fellow and deputy director of the CSIS International Security Program and Director of the Cooperative Defense Project (CDP); and Fatima Imam, executive director of Rehabilitation, Empowerment, and Better Health Initiative and Network of Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria. They discuss how GBV impacts women and girls in crises, focused especially on the Middle East and northern Nigeria, and how these ubiquitous and traumatizing realities undermine global health security and community resilience. This conversation is linked to a new CSIS report, How Can We Better Reach Women and Girls in Crises? and an October 31 conference on U.S. Action for Women’s and Girls’ Health Security, both under the auspices of the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security.

In this episode of Take as Directed, Nellie Bristol speaks with Dr. John Vertefeuille. Dr Vertefeuille is currently the polio eradication branch chief at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). His long career at the CDC has included stints in Haiti, Tanzania and Nigeria. Nellie and Dr. Vertefeuille discuss why there has been an increase in vaccine-derived polio since 2016, how it differs from wild poliovirus, and how the CDC plans to contain and prevent future outbreaks.

On September 27th, the CSIS Global Health Policy Center hosted a conference focused on Securing Healthy Populations in a New Era of Global Immunization. The program highlighted the progress that has been made in expanding access to immunization, but emphasized the need for a new push to increase global coverage from 85 to 100 percent. On this episode of Take as Directed, Senior Fellow Katherine Bliss walks through some of the conference panelists’ most striking comments and highlights the challenges of equity, trust, delivery, and insecurity that global immunization programs face as they develop new strategies for the next decade.

In 2018, more than 200 million people contracted malaria around the world, and nearly half a million died of it. As countries continue to battle malaria within their borders, the international discussion turns to a loftier goal—complete global eradication of malaria. In this episode of Take as Directed, J. Stephen Morrison sits down with Sir Richard Feachem, Director of the Global Health Group at UCSF Global Health Sciences, and Professor of Global Health at both UC San Francisco and the UC Berkeley. They discuss the Lancet Commission on Malaria Eradication, and their new report that lays out a vision to achieve the eradication of malaria, “Malaria eradication within a generation: ambitious, achievable, and necessary.” Just how plausible is this vision?