Outbreak Preparedness and Response in Re

How do we prepare for and respond to communicable disease outbreaks in low-resource settings? How are diseases transmitted, and how do we prevent, detect, and control the major communicable diseases encountered by populations in low-resource health care settings? How are governments, the UN, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) responding to disease prevention, mitigation, and control? How do we study what has worked to control disease outbreaks and what has not during situations of war, civil strife, migration, and mass displacement of people and in under-resourced health settings globally? 

Whether caused by a natural disaster, conflict or famine, a humanitarian crisis often brings increased morbidity and mortality from direct and indirect causes, including communicable diseases. People moving into crowded communal settlements or shelters means that diseases like diarrhea and measles spread easily. Damage to sanitation facilities or a lack of clean water means rapidly transmitted water- and vectorborne diseases. Since the 1994 cholera epidemic in Goma, Zaire, the humanitarian community has improved its ability to perform operational research to detect and respond to communicable disease outbreaks where infrastructure and information are limited and come up with evidence-informed approaches to the response. Exploring the interplay of programmatic and scientific advances in humanitarian response is imperative to developing and capitalizing on the lessons learned from previous emergencies. 

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, these lessons are more pertinent than ever as the global community struggles to control the spread of the virus and vaccinate populations in an efficient, equitable manner. This course focuses on familiarizing students with epidemiology, pathobiology, diagnostic methods, treatment, preventive interventions, and, especially, programmatic considerations regarding the leading infectious diseases encountered by communities, governments, and humanitarian actors in underresourced health settings. We will evaluate the effectiveness of different stakeholders, including ministries of health, international governments, and NGOs, in outbreak preparedness and response.