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COVID-19
Newsletter
Volume 16 | July 8th, 2020
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Dear Colleague,
President Donald Trump’s announcement that he has informed the World Health Organization that the United States will be leaving the organization is a deeply irresponsible decision that threatens the lives of people across the planet but particularly the poor and most vulnerable amongst us. Since we first heard that this may happen we have been working very hard to apply pressure to all Congresspersons to ensure that the United States stays in and fully funds the WHO. Please see the release that we sent signed by our Executive Committee members
here
.
To secure a location and reduce costs we book our annual conference location years in advance. A few years ago we chose Houston Texas to be the site of our 2021 meeting. Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic is raging out of control and is affecting large swaths of the United States including Texas. We are paying very close attention to the situation and will act in accordance with the CDC’s recommendations to keep people safe. Please see our website at
www.cugh2021.org
for up-to-date information with regard to the conference.
Best wishes,
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Keith Martin MD
Executive Director
CUGH
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NOTE:
Some subscribers are experiencing trouble accessing the entire newsletter. Gmail automatically trims longer messages in the inbox. If you are unable to view the entire newsletter, click the "view entire message" link that appears after the content is cut off. For further assistance, please contact info@cugh.org.
This newsletter is divided into the following sections:
- Advocacy efforts
- Recent pandemic updates
- Resources for educators
- Resources for researchers
- Resources for health practitioners
- Member requests
- Other resources
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Signed by CUGH's Executive Committee, this call to action was sent following
President Donald Trump's formal notification to Congress about his intention to withdraw the US from the WHO. Please use this material and add your own commentary in your advocacy efforts. If you are in the US, contact your congressional representatives' offices voicing your opposition to this action.
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The number of confirmed coronavirus cases around the world has passed the milestone of 10 million, according to Johns Hopkins University in the US. Infections continue to rise in several southern and western states in the US, mostly those that had eased restrictions. Listen to CUGH member, Dr. Brad Dreifuss, discuss on BBC how health care workers in Arizona are struggling to cope with the pandemic.
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CUGH is partaking in The Campaign to Support WHO, a call to action focused on ensuring US support for the WHO and PAHO. They have created an easy form for individuals to be able to contact their members of Congress on this matter via email.
We are asking you to please participate in this campaign by contacting your Congresspersons through
this form
.
If your organization would like to request an organization sign-on, please see
here
. Additionally, if you work with WHO collaborating centers, it is vital that your Congresspersons hear from you and how
this decision will negatively impact the US and the world.
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All CUGH webinars are open access, recorded, and posted at
www.cugh.org
. Most recent ones include:
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"Now, and when COVID-19 ends, we—policy- makers, public health officials, and all of us who care about public health—have a moral imperative to center and equitably address the health, economic, and social needs of those who bear the intersectional brunt of structural inequality. " - Dr. Lisa Bowleg
Read this American Journal of Public Health's author's note on the importance of addressing structural inequality.
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The COVID-19 pandemic is imposing devastating health and social costs worldwide. At the same time there is also a crisis of climate change which demands urgent action. In planning for economic activity after the pandemic, a green recovery must be designed to generate co-benefits for social equity, the environment and human health.
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The Africa CDC is the continent’s leading agency to address public health challenges affecting that region. They produce a wealth of knowledge that can be useful to many organizations around the world. Please see their website,
www.africacdc.org
, for:
- Daily COVID-19 updates
- Information on their COVID-19 Response Fund
- Their Pooled Procurement Portal
- Other activities
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This daily (M-F) newsletter from the University of Washington provides a succinct summary of the latest scientific literature related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Click here
to subscribe.
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This website from Johns Hopkins University is an outstanding resource to help advance the understanding of the virus, inform the public, and brief policymakers in order to guide a response, improve care, and save lives. It includes access to an interactive COVID-19 map.
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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's COVID-19 Center provides tailored guidance to keep people safe. The site also contains a number of resources on the virus, including cases, data, and surveillance.
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The COVID Racial Data Tracker is a collaboration between the COVID Tracking Project and the Antiracist Research & Policy Center. Together, they're gathering the most complete race and ethnicity data on COVID-19 in the United States.
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A Preventing Epidemics release, Weekly Science Review provides a snapshot of the new and emerging scientific evidence related to COVID-19.
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In remote teaching, it’s easy to forget that students are real people. Here’s why connecting early and often with them is vital, and how to do it.
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The pandemic has exposed and worsened equity gaps in higher education, as its impacts have been felt most by Black, Latino and lower-income Americans. What policies and incentives could help close those gaps?
In this Inside Higher Education podcast, they spoke with Michelle Asha Cooper, president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, a nonpartisan research and policy group. Cooper talked about why higher education needs to change, and how.
They also spo
ke with Kim Cook, executive director of the National College Attainment Network, which has been tracking federal data that suggest some lower-income students may leave higher education. Cook spoke about doubling federal Pell Grant awards and and other policies that will help address disparities in accessing higher education.
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Wednesday, July 8th, 2020, 5:00 PM (ET)
This COVID-19 Conversations webinar, hosted by the National Academies of Medicine and The American Public Health Association, will discuss the variety of considerations being weighed before reopening colleges and universities in fall 2020, including the role of testing and contact tracing, responding to outbreaks, if sports can safely resume, and other strategies to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while allowing education to continue.
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RESOURCES FOR RESEARCHERS
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From AFREhealth: Joining Stephen Grootes on The Pulse, ICU Head at Tygerberg Hospital, Dr. Usha Lalla explains the use of a high flow breathing apparatus as opposed to a ventilator for COVID-19 patients. Dr. Lalla says this system does not need equipment and is used when patients are awake.
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In this podcast, Drs. Adarsh Bhimraj of the Cleveland Clinic and Rajesh Gandhi of Massachusetts General Hospital discussed all things remdesivir, including how the antiviral combats COVID-19, what will happen if supplies are depleted and the latest clinical trial information.
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How is COVID-19 affecting progress against cancer and other long-standing health threats? This virtual roundtable discussion led by Research!America explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public and private sector-fueled medical progress. The panelists discussed the pandemic’s influence on the research NIH conducts and supports, our nation’s R&D infrastructure, the private sector investment climate, technology transfer and other key variables influencing the pace of medical progress, and opportunities to quickly reboot R&D as we move forward.
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RESOURCES FOR HEALTH PRACTITIONERS
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This website features resources for use by nurses in their efforts against COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. These resources aim to support nurses from diverse backgrounds, including low- and middle-income countries, and are included in multiple languages when possible. As COVID-19 information is rapidly changing, new resources will continue to be added to the site. If there are additional resources you feel should be included, please reach out to us at
ysncovidquestions@yale.edu
.
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Tuesday, July 14th, 2020, 10:00 AM (ET)
Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Friends) will host a webinar examining the impacts of COVID-19 on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Programs in Africa. The webinar will highlight: 1) evidence of the impact of COVID-19 on HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria thus far, and scenarios for the future; 2) COVID-19’s effect on vulnerable and key populations; and 3) the insights of civil society, service providers, and public health experts in African countries on ways to mitigate disruption of services.
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Read about the very disturbing trend of attacks against health workers who are trying to stop the spread of COVID-19.
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The COVID‐19 pandemic has challenged health systems around the globe and exposed a myriad of fault lines. We are seeing how critically important supply chains are to health systems and to people’s well‐being. Supply chain inefficiency, and its brittleness in times of crisis has been a
well‐noted challenge. The descriptions of preventable deaths through the absence of effective personal protective equipment (PPE) in most countries should compel us to fix these problems.
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The use of telehealth has exploded as many regulatory barriers to its use have been temporarily lowered during the COVID-19 pandemic. The AMA is advocating for making many of these emergency policy changes permanent.
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In this episode from the American College of Cardiology, Alison Bailey hosts Lisa Rosenbaum, Gregory Piazza, Maghee Disch, and Ranna Parekh in a discussion on how the COVID-19 pandemic is not only directly affecting cardiology patients, but also indirectly affecting our health care team in many ways.
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Wednesday, July 15th, 2020, 11:00 AM ET
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for accurate, reliable and timely data to respond to people’s health needs. It has been described as a ‘watershed moment’ for healthcare technologies. At the same time, COVID-19 has highlighted the inequalities and inequities that underpin vulnerability during epidemics. Can digital health technologies be leveraged to address health inequities?
Dr Andrew Bastawrous, Co-Founder of Peek Vision and Assistant Professor at LSHTM, Prof Sylvia Thun,Director of eHealth and Interoperability at Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Dr Manjari Mahajan, Starr Professor and Co-Director of the India China Institute at The New School, and Dr Henrik Matthies, Managing Director of Health Innovation Hub (HIH) will explore these and other questions including: What potential do technological advances have to improve access to, and the quality of, healthcare services? What challenges do digital technologies pose for healthcare service providers, regulators and patients? How can we promote an equitable digital health agenda?
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A study co-authored by Dr. Raymond Niaura, Interim Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences at New York University was published by
Therapeutic Advances in Chronic Disease
.
This meta-analysis of retrospective observational case series found an unexpectedly low prevalence of current smoking among hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Hospitalized current smokers had higher odds compared with non-current smokers but lower odds compared with former smokers for an adverse outcome. Smoking cannot be considered a protective measure for COVID-19.
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This interdisciplinary course will cover diverse subjects such as basic epidemiology, public health, public policy, basic microbiology, food safety, and security, zoonotic diseases, sanitation and hygiene, antimicrobial resistance, environmental and ecosystem health, and the national and international organizations that oversee health, agriculture, and the environment. Disea
se outbreaks including Influenza, Q fever, and Ebola will be discussed. While the course
was developed and recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic, the concepts learned very much apply to it. This course emphasizes holistic, not siloed, approaches to health, and disease.
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From January to May, Cambodia had only 125 coronavirus cases—70% of which were from people traveling from outside of the country, and the rest of which could be linked to those cases. Even as sporadic cases continue to be detected in travelers returning at the border, Cambodia’s implementation of WHO guidelines—test, isolate, trace, quarantine, and care —has kept numbers low. Dr. Kumanan Rasanathan, Health Systems Coordinator for WHO in Cambodia (and Incident Manager for COVID-19 from March to June), talks with guest host Dr. Sara Bennett about Cambodia’s response and what has contributed to its relative success.
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The world is being flooded with new terms in coverage of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Here's a glossary in case you're not up on the latest medical and testing jargon. NPR's Goats & Soda starts with the nomenclature of the virus. Words are listed in thematic groupings (transmission and testing, for example).
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The COVID-19 pandemic will be a history-altering event. But where will it take us? In “On the Horizon,” a new CSIS series, scholars offer their insights into the fundamental changes we might anticipate for our future social and economic world.
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Six months into the pandemic of the novel coronavirus is a good time to look back and ahead. Here’s the bottom line: There’s only one enemy – the virus. We need to overcome the politicization of measures that protect all of us. Watch Dr. Frieden speak more about COVID-19 in this interview.
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This podcast interview focuses on questions our pandemic predicament makes unavoidable, and the value of using a One Health / Planetary Health lens to inform our answers.
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Consortium of Universities for Global Health
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