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COVID-19
Newsletter
Volume 13 | June 16th, 2020
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Dear Colleague,
Economies are slowly opening in parts of the world. This is a welcome development. However, this should only occur consistent with the ongoing adherence to sound public health measures that reduce the transmission of the virus. Unfortunately, in too many areas, these practices are not being adhered to and we are seeing new spikes in infection rates. In addition, very disturbing increases in Covid-19 rates are occurring in low and middle-income countries, particularly in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
We cannot let our guard down. We must continue to speak out in support of the public health measures that will reduce the spread of this virus. We must also keep focused on the many other health threats that affect people’s lives.
Please register for our upcoming webinars (below). They are open to all. We have negotiated access to CME credits for some of the webinars.
You will also see a recent editorial written by Dr. Trish Davidson, Dean of the School of Nursing at Johns Hopkins University, CUGH Board Chair, and Stanford University’s Director of the Center for Innovation in Global Health, Dr. Michele Barry, and myself on the US defunding and departing from the WHO.
As always, this newsletter contains an abundance of material that you and your colleagues may find useful as we battle this pandemic. Please share this newsletter with your networks. Stay safe.
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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Several big issues have rocked the World Health Organization. The COVID- 19 pandemic is the greatest public health challenge in a century. It has also laid bare global weaknesses in dealing with an outbreak of a deadly infectious disease. In the midst of this, US President Donald Trump decided to defund and remove the United States from the organization.
This crisis is an opportunity to build better global public health systems. Four experts will address these important issues affecting the world's premier public health agency: the situation in Congress regarding the WHO; reforming the WHO; and our collective ability to respond to COVID-19 and other public health challenges.
June 30 at 10 AM ET:
The WHO’s State of the World’s Report on Nursing and Midwifery was released this year, the Year of the Nurse. Nurses represent 59% of all healthcare professionals and are the backbone of health systems worldwide. How can this sector be strengthened and what of the future challenges it faces in helping to deliver effective health coverage especially during the COVID-19 pandemic? Dr. Trish Davidson, Dean of the School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University, and Dr. Nancy Reynolds, Associate Dean of Global Affairs, Johns Hopkins University and one of the authors of the report, and other nursing leaders will present on these important issues. Stay tuned for the registration link.
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Written by Dr. Michele Barry, Dr. Patricia Davidson, and Dr. Keith Martin, this article
decries the US’ decision to defund and remove the US from the World Health Organization.
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Please provide your feedback and thoughts about the impact of the COVID-19 on global health and academia using this form.
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Please use this letter and call your Congressperson to reverse these decisions. Once you take action, complete
this short post-engagement form
in order to help us track our members' efforts.
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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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Tuesday, June 23, 2020, 12:30 PM (ET)
Join CCGHR for their next webinar. Chris G. Buses, who is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the UBC Centre for Environmental Assessment Research will share key similarities and differences for the drivers of the health policy response to COVID-19 and climate change. He will also present the scope of impact, temporal dimensions of urgency, and implications for health equity and will share policy examples from around the world.
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Friday, July 24, 2020, 12:00 PM (ET)
Join Tufts' Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health for an important webinar focused on understanding how well available information on the cost-effectiveness of health interventions aligns with diseases and conditions that contribute the greatest global burden. We will explore where the gaps are greatest, how this varies by location, disease, and type of intervention, and discuss policy options for improving the alignment. Our discussion is particularly relevant now that health systems around the world are struggling with how best to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, and what lessons can be learned for future outbreak prevention and control.
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The AAAS Science and Human Rights Coalition Secretariat and Coalition member organizations have compiled this resource list to help students, educators, scientists, activists, and other audiences confront the urgent challenges at the intersections of science, technology and human rights raised by the novel coronavirus pandemic. AAS will continue to update this list as the crisis evolves.
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This letter, organized by University of Washington researchers, is signed by 1,288 public health professionals, infectious diseases professionals, and community stakeholders expresses the urgent need to address systemic injustice.
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The COVID-19 global pandemic has punctuated the need for taking an integrated One Health approach to fostering and protecting human health and wellbeing. Adtalem Global Education recently produced an informational video on the legislation featuring Representatives Kurt Schrader (D-Oregon) and Ted Yoho (R-Florida), who co-chair the Veterinary Medicine Caucus in Congress. Moderated by Adtalem CEO Lisa Wardell and also featuring AAVMC CEO Dr. Andrew T. Maccabe and Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine Dean Dr. Sean Callanan, the show explores the nature and the urgency of passing the legislation. The government has FEMA to handle natural disasters, posits Congressman Schrader; why not have a One Health apparatus to handle public health disasters?
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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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Join AFREHealth for their next webinar, "
COVID-19: Interprofessional Education for Capacity Development," on
June 24 at 9 AM ET/13:00 GMT
.
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College administrators continue to lay plans for the fall. Hybrid models, longer days and shortened semesters are among the popular planning options.
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Given today's challenging times, Beth McMurtrie provides readers with guidance on how to provide-trauma informed teaching to university students.
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James H. Conway, Ronald G. Machoian and Christopher W. Olsen highlight the key issues concerning overseas travel that international educators must consider in the coming months.
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RESOURCES FOR RESEARCHERS
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Thursday, June 18, 2020, 2:00 PM (ET)
How is COVID-19 affecting progress against cancer and other long-standing health threats? Join Research!America and partners for a virtual roundtable discussion focusing on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public and private sector-fueled medical progress. The participants will explore the pandemic’s influence on the impact on federally funded research, 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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The
Science
journals are striving to provide the best and most timely research, analysis, and news coverage of COVID-19 and the coronavirus that causes it. All content is free to access.
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RESOURCES FOR HEALTH PRACTITIONERS
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The first year of residency is always intense, and that’s even truer now. AAMC asked experienced trainees for tips on getting through it. From the simply practical to the profoundly philosophical, here are their deepest experiences and savviest insights.
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Thursday, June 18, 2020, 8:00 AM (ET)
Please join USAID's momentum country and global leadership for a three-part exchange webinar series, where we will hear learnings and practical strategies from country leaders on mitigating disruption of services of maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH); voluntary family planning (FP); and reproductive health (RH) care during during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first exchange in this series will focus on the pandemic on essential maternal and newborn health services, voluntary FP/RH care, and country-led action to combat these challenges.
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The COVID-19 pandemic is having a catastrophic impact on the most vulnerable communities worldwide and threatens progress against HIV, TB and malaria. Imperial College London
estimates
“in high burden settings, HIV, TB and malaria related deaths over 5 years may be increased by up to 10%, 20% and 36%, respectively, compared to if there were no COVID-19 epidemic.” That’s why the
Global Fund to End AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
is providing immediate funding through its COVID-19 Response Mechanism.
Use the link above to find regularly updated information on the impact of COVID-19 on HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria and news items from around the world on important developments.
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The rapid evolution and spread of the COVID-19 pandemic have revealed insuciencies in the US health system to respond to a public health emergency, resulting in healthcare worker infections and deaths. Nurses have played and will continue to play a pivotal role in the response, yet compelling evidence from nurses in the eld reveals a lack of access to personal protective equipment; inadequate knowledge and skills related to pandemic response; a lack of decision rights as they relate to work flow redesign, staffing decisions, and allocation of scarce resources; and a fundamental disconnect between frontline nurses and nurse executives and hospital administrators.
In this report, Johns Hopkins University describes the myriad factors that influence nursing workforce development and training for pandemic response as well as the safety and support needed during pandemics at the government, system, organization, and individual levels. In addition, they identify some of the relevant stakeholders who can influence decision making at these levels. JHU also identifies gaps and propose short- and long-term recommendations for ways to improve the readiness, safety, and support of the national nursing workforce for COVID-19 and future pandemics.
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In this online course, explore how nursing can respond to the challenges posed by low resources and high societal uncertainty in the wake of COVID-19.
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Can we prevent the blood clots that cause strokes and other serious health problems in people with COVID-19? Find out in a conversation with National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Director Dr. Gary Gibbons on the NIH Director’s Blog.
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On this episode Sarah from Brown University talks with Dr. Ashish Jha, professor of global health at Harvard University and director of the Harvard Global Health Institute (and soon to be dean of the Brown School of Public Health). As the United States reels from the ongoing collision of systemic racism, coronavirus, and economic catastrophe, Sarah and Dr. Jha explore how these issues intersect. They also discuss the effects of absentee national leadership during this crisis, and how to bring science and data back into the center of our nation’s healthcare debate.
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Emory University Global Health Institute held a COVID-19 Children’s eBook Competition. See the winning eBook and the four honorable mentions. Please share them with teachers, parents and children everywhere.
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Dr. Benjamin Meier and his team are responding to COVID-19 by advising the UN on upholding human rights during a pandemic and working with WHO on public policy reforms as part of pandemic response.
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The World Health Organization has described Latin America as the new global epicenter for COVID-19, and strict lockdowns in much of the region are asphyxiating economic activity. As Latin America suffers an unprecedented slowdown, International Labor Organization forecasts suggest it will suffer the world’s worst increase in joblessness.
How have Latin America’s governments responded to this economic catastrophe, and how will those policies condition the region’s post-pandemic recovery? Will aggressive stimulus measures designed to limit bankruptcies and unemployment produce long-term debt burdens? Will countries with easy access to markets and the International Monetary Fund, such as Peru and Panama, recover faster than countries like Argentina and Ecuador that faced debt crises even before the coronavirus?
The Wilson Center held a discussion with three former finance ministers about Latin America’s economic policy responses to COVID-19 and the implications for the region’s recovery.
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Wednesday, June 17, 2020, 3:00 PM (ET)
Join Americares for a panel discussion addressing wildfires and climate change in California and globally. Panelists will discuss how climate change and wildfires are impacting human health, particularly among the most vulnerable. And you’ll learn what preparedness and best practice strategies can be used to minimize future health impacts and inequities, especially in the context of COVID-19.
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The AAVMC’s acclaimed “Diversity & Inclusion on Air” podcast program recently examined how the economic fall-out from the COVID-19 global pandemic is affecting diversity and inclusion. Producer/host and AAVMC Director of Institutional Research and Diversity Dr. Lisa Greenhill invited American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Economics Division Director Dr. Matthew Salois and Associate Director of Analytics Dr. Bridgette Bain to join her for the most recent episode, entitled “The Pandemic, the Economy & Diversity.” The three discuss how the pandemic is affecting the economy and what it means for practitioners, veterinary students and marginalized populations.
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The National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) created an
interactive map
highlighting how every state and Washington, DC, is innovating and expanding its contact tracing capacity to contain the infection and reopen its economy.
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PHI/CDC Surveillance Fellow, Robyn Bernstein, MPH, discusses her experience with CDC Zambia’s Division of Global HIV & Tuberculosis. Robyn also elaborates on her time as Strategic Information Coordinator for the COVID-19 International Task Force- Strategic Information Unit Mitigation Team, part of CDC’s Emergency Operations Center.
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As part of the CDC’s response to the COVD-19 pandemic,
CDC is working globally
with public health agencies, health ministry counterparts, and non-governmental organizations to limit human-to-human transmission, minimize the impact of COVID-19 in vulnerable countries with limited core public health capacities, and reduce specific health threats that pose current and/or future risk to the United States. In its overseas efforts, CDC is focused on enhancing COVID-19 response capabilities, while building sustainable capacity for response to highly communicable diseases. The linked CDC COVID-19 Global Response fact sheet provides updated information regarding CDC’s global COVID-19 response goals and objectives, along with a brief overview of CDC’s.
CDC’s global health security investments --- leveraging decades of global cooperation and support to control HIV and malaria, end TB, eradicate polio, and prepare for and detect influenza and other pandemic diseases --- have built the foundations for CDC’s COVID-19 global response. Working in partnership with these countries and others not only assists its partners around the world to mitigate and control this pandemic, but also keeps Americans safe, as viruses know no boundaries.
More information about CDC’s COVID-19 response work is available
here
.
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The East African Community is currently facing an unparalleled magnitude and pace of twin health and economic crises that are heightening the risk of compromising development at the country and regional level. The global COVID-19 pandemic, associated with huge loss of human life and morbidity, have brought the East African countries to their knees across all sectors, at a pace never witnessed before; posing a serious risk of upending and reversing recent development progress. The twin health and economic crisis has led to, and is now manifested in: lock downs, business closures and slowdown, travel restrictions and border closures. The initial primary health crisis called for quicker health solutions but yet uncertainty over vaccine development and deployment remains as does confusion on control measures in the medium term. Read more in the linked article.
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Consortium of Universities for Global Health
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