Today's Headlines: May 23, 2018
Biological Agents & Infectious Diseases
Domestic Preparedness & Response
Global Health Security
New Funding Pledges Boost DRC Ebola Response (
CIDRAP) A major infusion of financial support for Ebola response-to the tune of more than $25 million-has come from the World Bank, the US, and Germany to support the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where two more cases were reported.
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World Health Assembly Delegates Agree New Five-Year Strategic Plan (
WHO) World Health Assembly delegates today agreed an ambitious new strategic plan for the next five years. The Organization's 13th General Programme of Work (GPW) is designed to help the world achieve the Sustainable Development Goals - with a particular focus on SDG3: ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing for all at all ages by 2030.
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2 Patients Who Fled Ebola Ward Among the Dead in Congo (
US News) Two infected patients who fled from an Ebola treatment center in a Congo city of 1.2 million people later died, an aid group said Wednesday while asserting that "forced hospitalization is not the solution to this epidemic." As the number of suspected Ebola cases continued to rise, experts emphasized that more community engagement is needed to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.
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Government Affairs & National Security
The White House Signals That Bioterrorism and Disease Don't Matter -- Again (
Washington Post) In eliminating the Office of Global Health Security at the National Security Council, it seems these events have slipped the mind of newly installed national security adviser John Bolton. But he is not alone. This marks the third time that the national security community, in both Democratic and Republican administrations, has downgraded the importance of disease and bioterrorism threats in the hierarchy of national security issues.
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Medicine & Public Health
Economic Burden of Seasonal Influenza in the US (
Science Direct) Seasonal influenza is a highly pathogenic viral infection. It occurs annually in the US typically from late fall through early-mid spring. In most cases, influenza infection is a self-limiting disease from which individuals will recover without serious complications; however, it can result in severe illness and death. Influenza also results in a substantial economic burden, due to both medical care costs and productivity loss.
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Science & Technology
Other 21st Century Threats
Drones Don't Wear Uniforms. They Should. (
Foreign Policy) Israel may have become the first-ever nation observed using armed consumer drones in a real-world setting on March 12, when a Lebanese news network ran footage (probably dating from March 9) of one dropping tear gas on Gazan protesters. The deployment of drones against crowds of protesters -- even armed ones -- raises new and worrying questions about legality, identification, and purpose. Such usage may be unavoidable, but the international community at the very least needs to establish -- and enforce -- legal and ethical standards as soon as possible.
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