Evaluation of the Global Health Security Index as a predictor of COVID-19 excess mortality standardised for under-reporting and age structure.

Background: Previous studies have observed that countries with the strongest levels of pandemic preparedness capacities experience the greatest levels of COVID-19 burden. However, these analyses have been limited by cross-country differentials in surveillance system quality and demographics. Here, we address limitations of previous comparisons by exploring country-level relationships between pandemic preparedness measures and comparative mortality ratios (CMRs), a form of indirect age standardisation, of excess COVID-19 mortality.

Toward Understanding Death.

Evidence-based approaches to preventing child death require evidence; without data on common causes of child mortality, taking effective action to prevent these deaths is difficult at best. Minimally invasive tissue sampling (MITS) is a potentially powerful, but nascent, technique to obtain gold standard information on causes of death. The Gates Foundation committed to further establishing the methodology and obtain the highest quality information on the major causes of death for children under 5 years.

Initial findings from a novel population-based child mortality surveillance approach: a descriptive study.

Background: Sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia contributed 81% of 5·9 million under-5 deaths and 77% of 2·6 million stillbirths worldwide in 2015. Vital registration and verbal autopsy data are mainstays for the estimation of leading causes of death, but both are non-specific and focus on a single underlying cause. We aimed to provide granular data on the contributory causes of death in stillborn fetuses and in deceased neonates and children younger than 5 years, to inform child mortality prevention efforts.

Why Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance?

Recognizing the need for better primary data on the causes of global child mortality, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation made an unusually long funding commitment toward a surveillance system using pathology to identify opportunities to prevent child deaths and promote equity.

Precisely Tracking Childhood Death.

Little is known about the specific causes of neonatal and under-five childhood death in high-mortality geographic regions due to a lack of primary data and dependence on inaccurate tools, such as verbal autopsy. To meet the ambitious new Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 to eliminate preventable child mortality in every country, better approaches are needed to precisely determine specific causes of death so that prevention and treatment interventions can be strengthened and focused.

Nodding syndrome may be an autoimmune reaction to the parasitic worm .

Nodding syndrome is an epileptic disorder of unknown etiology that occurs in children in East Africa. There is an epidemiological association with , the parasitic worm that causes onchocerciasis (river blindness), but there is limited evidence that the parasite itself is neuroinvasive. We hypothesized that nodding syndrome may be an autoimmune-mediated disease.

Sennetsu Neorickettsiosis, Spotted Fever Group, and Typhus Group Rickettsioses in Three Provinces in Thailand.

We estimated the seroprevalence and determined the frequency of acute infections with Neorickettsia sennetsu, spotted fever group rickettsiae, Rickettsia typhi, and Orientia tsutsugamushi among 2,225 febrile patients presenting to community hospitals in three rural Thailand provinces during 2002-2005. The seroprevalence was 0.2% for sennetsu neorickettsiosis (SN), 0.

Prioritising Infectious Disease Mapping.

Background: Increasing volumes of data and computational capacity afford unprecedented opportunities to scale up infectious disease (ID) mapping for public health uses. Whilst a large number of IDs show global spatial variation, comprehensive knowledge of these geographic patterns is poor. Here we use an objective method to prioritise mapping efforts to begin to address the large deficit in global disease maps currently available.

Infectious causes of encephalitis and meningoencephalitis in Thailand, 2003-2005.

Acute encephalitis is a severe neurologic syndrome. Determining etiology from among ≈100 possible agents is difficult. To identify infectious etiologies of encephalitis in Thailand, we conducted surveillance in 7 hospitals during July 2003-August 2005 and selected patients with acute onset of brain dysfunction with fever or hypothermia and with abnormalities seen on neuroimages or electroencephalograms or with cerebrospinal fluid pleocytosis.

Strengthening global health security capacity--Vietnam demonstration project, 2013.

Over the past decade, Vietnam has successfully responded to global health security (GHS) challenges, including domestic elimination of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and rapid public health responses to human infections with influenza A(H5N1) virus. However, new threats such as Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and influenza A(H7N9) present continued challenges, reinforcing the need to improve the global capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats. In June 2012, Vietnam, along with many other nations, obtained a 2-year extension for meeting core surveillance and response requirements of the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR).

Rapidly building global health security capacity--Uganda demonstration project, 2013.

Increasingly, the need to strengthen global capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats around the globe is being recognized. CDC, in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), has committed to building capacity by assisting member states with strengthening their national capacity for integrated disease surveillance and response as required by International Health Regulations (IHR). CDC and other U.

An Epidemiologic Investigation of Potential Risk Factors for Nodding Syndrome in Kitgum District, Uganda.

Introduction: Nodding Syndrome (NS), an unexplained illness characterized by spells of head bobbing, has been reported in Sudan and Tanzania, perhaps as early as 1962. Hypothesized causes include sorghum consumption, measles, and onchocerciasis infection. In 2009, a couple thousand cases were reportedly in Northern Uganda.

Progress in global surveillance and response capacity 10 years after severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Ten years have elapsed since the World Health Organization issued its first global alert for an unexplained illness named severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect on the international response to this new global microbial threat. While global surveillance and response capacity for public health threats have been strengthened, critical gaps remain.