[Music]
hi my name is dr. Edmund Ruta senior
technical advisor on tuberculosis in the
u.s. ID beautiful global health and this
is global health security and you in
this lesson will focus on global health
security and the critical role that
health information plays in surveillance
prevention and mitigation of infectious
disease outbreaks we look at the key
element necessary for the collection
analysis and dissemination of health
information and finally when we examine
the importance of giving citizen access
to digital tools to support the
collection and use of reliable health
data as a TB expert I know firsthand how
easily an infectious disease can spread
from a localized right to one that puts
at risk entire population in multiple
cities and even across regions countries
and continents diseases don't respect
borders credible information a resilient
health system and contingency planning
can stop an epidemic and prevent it from
turning into a pandemic the West Africa
Ebola outbreak in 2014 have been
contained but poor health infrastructure
with surveillance systems lack of
reliable health data and often
contradicting health messages turned it
into an epidemic of global proportions
the international community was caught
unprepared and the consequences were
grave over 30,000 Ebola cases including
approximately 11,000 dead from the
disease another 10,000 estimated deaths
due to other health conditions going
untreated and millions of dollars lost
in duplication efforts due to poor
coordination and communication across
the global system
for the impacts on the food security
employment health care and education we
have fell from months after the end of
the outbreak many survivors still
struggle rumors which tend to increase
doing any crisis were not promptly
addressed by a credible sources of
information in fact that contributed the
speculation misinformation and increased
infections in many ways the Ebola
outbreak was a wake-up call that exposed
major weaknesses in the global system
for addressing epidemic threats but this
tragic event also brought forth a
commitment to a new collective paradigm
centered around global health security
we look at the communication challenges
in Lesson land on the digital front from
the Ebola outbreak later in this lesson
but first I'll outline the global health
security agenda the global health
security agenda or GHSA was launched in
partnership with countries from around
the world the GHSA seeks to improve the
capacities of countries by strengthening
health systems to protect people around
the world against infectious diseases it
also aims to attain a world safe and
secure from global health threats posed
by infectious diseases through
multilateral animals secular
collaboration and the sharing of best
practices and metrics between partners
both those in government as well as
private and non-governmental
stakeholders as one of several
implementing agencies for the United
States GSA programs the US Agency for
International Development is active
working with our interagency partners
around the world to channel resources to
issues like animal health and addressing
existing and emerging zoonotic pathogens
are you aware for instance that 60 to 80
percent of new infectious disease
outbreaks originate in animals with our
partners we are working towards the
prevention of animal to human infections
as well as and microbial resistance by
promoting the right
use of antibiotics by doing this we'll
be better prepared to work with
governments and communities to prevent
and mitigate future health threats
furthermore u.s. ID supports
preparedness and response to infectious
disease outbreaks at the community level
including training health care workers
in how other sectors can influence
disease transmission the unifying theme
of our work is to bring together the
sectors of animal health human health
and environmental health to address the
burden of disease on communities
strengthening health systems and
enhancing critical infrastructure also
serves to provide better access to
health care for citizens and improve the
quality and reliability of available
health information with the frequency
and intensity of infectious disease
outbreaks and events increasing there
will be a continued need for global
health security resources all countries
need safe secure and strong laboratories
a well-trained workforce multi sectoral
collaboration reliable intensive
real-time disease surveillance systems
and a command structure to coordinate an
effective and focused response that
include health practitioners and other
professionals along with the general
public strengthening the surveillance
laboratory and work force will be
critical as countries build the capacity
to respond on their own to new disease
threats so you have a role to play in
making sure your country is supporting
approaches to prevent the next disease
outbreak and promote global health
security including prioritizing
capacity-building for these kinds of
resources before an outbreak strikes as
health communicators you have a vital
role to play to ensure that accurate and
timely information is delivered to the
public to inform raise awareness respond
effectively during an outbreak and teach
the best practices
for the community to take action for
instance to help prevent the spread of
zoonotic diseases educate yourself about
food safety regulation in your country
and why it is important to vaccinate
animals against certain diseases the
collection analysis and dissemination
for accurate health information is also
critical for making effective policy and
programmatic decisions that will ensure
that resources get to where they are
needed most
unfortunately communities must often
deal with an array of disconnected and
parallel data systems weak governance on
enforcing information system standards
and insufficient capacity of data use in
healthcare for example a recent
assessment of Tanzania's information
system found a hundred and fifty three
disconnected and the separately financed
and implemented health information
systems operating in various programs
and geographies across the health sector
this is particularly troublesome during
health crises when the health
infrastructure is under siege and basic
health services are disrupted due to a
surge in demand in 2016
USAID published a report entitled
fighting Ebola with information learning
from the use of data information and
digital technologies a number of factors
contributed to the form of information
that characterized the collection and
the use of data in early days of the
epidemic to capture how Ebola spread
this included weak infrastructure such
as Gutzon Eliab electricity and digital
connectivity an absence of baseline data
on populations comprehensive and
accessible geographical maps and the
lack of machine-readable data given the
lack of data and communication
infrastructures rumors about how the
Ebola virus was transmitted and
inaccurate health information on what
constituted safe or unsafe behavior
caused panic and fueled epidemic
training local journalists on how to
responsibly report a health crisis
became a priority as efforts to contain
the epidemic increased and people
realized that existing public messaging
was not sufficient adequately trained
local journalists have a role to play in
fostering dialogue addressing rumors and
providing accurate health information
building strong digital health systems
and integrating social and behavior
change approaches are vital steps to
advance global health security and be
better prepared to contain the next
epidemic as outlined in the fighting
Ebola with information report key
recommendations include one investing in
the physical infrastructure that extends
digital connectivity that means building
more digital towers to connect people
who live in remote areas to conducting
baseline countrywide information
communication technology assessments to
gauge the rich quality and access to
mobile and broadband connectivity three
building staff capacity and data
literacy as well as institutional
capacity to leverage digital systems and
real time data in support of operations
programs and decision making and for
negotiating preparedness protocols with
key actors to increase telecommunication
network access in emergency situations
by doing all of this and more we'll be
better prepared to respond effectively
to health crises in the future one of
the positive example that came out of
the Ebola crisis is the M Hero platform
a two-way mobile phone based
communication platform that supports
dialogue between ministries of health
and health workers this tool contributed
greatly to improving the collection of
accurate health data and the
dissemination of reliable health
messaging in the affected countries
going forward we must strengthen the
technical institutional and human
systems required to rapidly gather
transmit analyze use and share health
data that is essential to promoting
global health security this is critical
both to keep pace with diseases that
spread with the ferocity and velocity of
Ebola and be more resilient in the face
of future global health threats
after you have completed all the lessons
in this course it yali.state.gov you can
test your knowledge and na Yali Network
certificate