COHEN GOES GLOBAL — Four months into the year, Dr. Mandy Cohen continues her push to restore faith in the CDC as the world’s premier public health agency. The CDC head has traveled to Asia and Africa this year, visiting Cambodia, Ethiopia, Japan, Kenya and Zambia, to rebuild public trust, encourage data-sharing partnerships and drive vaccine uptake to squash emerging public health threats as the agency works to reform itself. Why it matters: The CDC has faced skepticism and a lack of trust from lawmakers and the public following its handling of the pandemic. Since taking the agency’s helm, Cohen has made it her mission to restore confidence and reform the agency to better share public health information domestically and abroad. “Data is the thing that knits us together,” Cohen told the World Vaccine Congress in Washington earlier this week. A combined effort: Jeffrey Okoro, executive director of CFK Africa, a public health nongovernment organization that’s partnered with the CDC for nearly two decades, met with Cohen in Kenya. He told Pulse that CFK Africa operates one of the largest health surveillance programs outside of the U.S. and Cohen’s visit was an opportunity to share their work. “To us, it’s about how we can protect, prevent, but, most importantly, share knowledge that we are learning from this health surveillance platform that we have,” he said. Country by country: Cohen visited Cambodia’s public health authority to “observe the robust, joint efforts between U.S. CDC and partners to prevent, detect, and respond to emerging respiratory viral threats,” according to an HHS readout. In Ethiopia, Cohen discussed regional outbreaks like cholera. In Japan, the CDC celebrated the opening of a new regional office to strengthen the “knowledge and information exchange between CDC and the region.” “HHS remains committed to global health and security, and international partnership is vital to that goal,” HHS Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm, who led Cohen's delegation, said in a statement to Pulse. “We were pleased to meet with the ministers of health in each country and with the leadership of Africa CDC … to discuss how strong data and surveillance systems are critical to public health preparedness and response.” Looking ahead: A decline in routine childhood vaccinations worldwide is a challenge. At the World Vaccine Congress, Cohen warned of a “bit of a step backwards,” saying as many as 25 million children worldwide have missed their routine vaccines, for viruses like measles, in the past couple of years. Measles, in particular, has risen globally over the past year. Earlier this year, the United Nations health body warned that a global decline in vaccination rates was driving a rise in cases. In the U.S., 97 cases have been detected since the start of the year, surpassing case counts for all of 2023. WELCOME TO FRIDAY PULSE. A man who received the world’s first genetically modified pig kidney transplant is home and recovering. Send your tips, scoops and feedback to ccirruzzo@politico.com and bleonard@politico.com and follow along @ChelseaCirruzzo and @_BenLeonard_.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment