2013 Global Health Security Demonstration Projects
From the first year of these demonstration projects (Fiscal Year 2013), CDC and other U.S. government partners were able to make important progress in Uganda and Vietnam in laboratory functions, information gathering and sharing, and highly functioning emergency operating centers (EOCs).
Uganda
A hut in Andruvu Village, in the Arua District of Uganda (photo by Chelsey Beane, CDC)
Progress included the following:
- Capitalizing on existing PEPFAR transportation hubs for delivery of laboratory samples
- Demonstrating that improvements in transport, laboratory diagnostics and sample tracking and reporting decreased the amount of time for accurate diagnosis of infectious disease
- Improving lab data availability and use through a centralized specimen tracking system
- Improving IT through enhanced connectivity within the District Health Information System
- Identifying physical space for interim EOC and plans for a permanent facility with the National Health Laboratory and Resource Center
- Training in emergency management for operations in Uganda
Vietnam
Launch of the EOC exercise in Vietnam
Progress included the following:
- Training Vietnam staff at regional public health institutes in the diagnosis of enterovirus 71 (EV71) and multiple respiratory pathogens by polymerase chain reaction using CDC protocols and reagents
- Mapping the national public health laboratory system (conceptual referral network and existing physical network)
- Conducting analysis of Vietnam’s capacity to detect a public health event of international concern (PHEIC) from a laboratory systems perspective
- Training key MOH staff on advanced EOC systems and procedures and on exercise development
- Planning for the upgrading of Vietnam’s EOC physical layout and equipment
- Providing tools for outbreak investigations and enhancing the flow of data from the field to the EOC
