What We Do
At The Task Force, we have real impact by solving massive health problems. We work with partners to eliminate diseases that have plagued humanity for centuries and protect the health of populations by helping countries build strong health systems, so that in the end, all people can realize their right to living a healthy life.
Click on the tabs below to see our work and programs that make an impact in Eliminating Diseases, Ensuring Access to Vaccines, and Strengthening Health Systems.
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Intestinal Worms
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Soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH), a neglected tropical disease (NTD) more commonly known as intestinal worms, is the most common infectious disease in the world, affecting an estimated 1.5 billion people in 105 countries. STH causes malnutrition that contributes to stunted growth and weakened cognitive development, especially in children. Women of reproductive age are particularly susceptible to the effects of anemia caused by STH infections. People are infected by ingesting soil contaminated by human feces or by skin contact with the soil. Prevalence is highest in areas where sanitation and hygiene are poor.
1.5 Billion
People are infected with STH infections worldwide. (Source: WHO)
Accordion Content
Significant progress has been made in recent years in reducing the STH burden. Since 2006, the number of countries requiring mass drug administration (MDA) for STH has decreased more than 20 percent from 130 to 103 and global treatment coverage for children has increased from 15 to 75 percent. Deworming programs are now being expanded to include women of reproductive age.
The Task Force for Global Health supports global efforts to eliminate STH as a public health problem by driving partnerships, providing technical assistance to national programs, and driving operational research to overcome barriers to reaching STH elimination goals.
Driving Partnerships to Eliminate STH As A Public Health Problem
The Task Force’s Children Without Worms (CWW) program is the secretariat or hub for the STH Coalition consisting of more than 60 partners working to eliminate STH as a public health problem. The coalition was established in 2006 as a partnership between Johnson & Johnson and The Task Force for Global Health and works to coordinate actions and leverage resources in the fight against STH. CWW also serves as the secretariat for the STH Advisory Committee. The committee is an independent, international group of experts who provide strategic technical and scientific advise on STH control to the scientific community, country programs, and the pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Johnson & Johnson that donate deworming medicines.Providing Technical Assistance to Strengthen Programmatic Outcomes
CWW supports a number of countries and partners in all aspects of STH MDA planning,
implementation, and impact measurement. This includes assisting pharmaceutical partners in the management of supply chains for donated deworming medicines and helping countries measure progress toward reaching deworming coverage goals. CWW also provides support to countries in measuring the impact of deworming programs. These efforts include improved surveillance methods for monitoring STH prevalence levels and conducting costs analysis of the benefits of deworming programs.Conducting Operational Research to Overcome Barriers to Elimination
The Task Force supports operational research to strengthen deworming programs in countries around the world. CWW is working with STH Coalition partners to develop a low-cost test for detecting drug resistance in STH parasites, which could threaten the effectiveness of STH control programs. In addition, The Task Force’s Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center (NTD-SC) is working on more than 15 STH studies including ways to integrate MDA for STH and lymphatic filariasis and improve surveillance for both diseases where they are endemic. NTD-SC is also supporting studies to improve the use of data in deworming programs.Results
1 Billion
Additional Doses of Deworming Drugs Committed by Johnson & Johnson through 2025576 Million
children received preventive treatment for STH in 2018 (Source: WHO)Our Experts
Pat Lammie, PhD
Director, Neglected Tropical Diseases Support CenterResources
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Lymphatic Filariasis
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Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a parasitic disease transmitted to humans through the bites of mosquitoes. Over time, infection can damage the lymphatic system leading to severe swelling of the limbs and genitals resulting in disability and social stigma. One of the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), LF threatens almost 857 million people in 53 countries in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and South America.
120 Million
people are affected by LF globally. (Source: CDC)
Accordion Content
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set a goal of eliminating LF as a public health problem worldwide. The global elimination program uses mass drug administration (MDA) of anti-parasitic medicines to prevent new infections and new cases where the disease is endemic
Interrupting the transmission of LF globally requires repeated annual MDA in endemic communities for six or more years. The global elimination program accelerated in 2018 with the adoption of new mass treatment approaches, increased country-level uptake of drug donations, and advances in operational research.
The Task Force for Global Health contributes to the global LF elimination program by hosting one of the major global drug donation programs of anti-parasitic medicines and driving operational research to improve programmatic outcomes.
Supporting Mass Treatment Programs for LF Elimination
As an NTD program at The Task Force, the Mectizan® Donation Program (MDP), manages the donation of Mectizan® (ivermectin), an anti-parasitic drug donated by Merck. Initially established in 1987 to manage the donation of Mectizan® for river blindness (onchocerciasis), MDP was expanded in 1998 when Merck committed to donate Mectizan® for the elimination of LF in African countries where onchocerciasis and LF are co-endemic. In these settings, Mectizan® is co-administered with albendazole (donated by GSK), per WHO recommendations.
As part of its stewardship of Merck’s in-kind donations, MDP regularly convenes the Mectizan Expert Committee, which reviews and approves countries’ applications for Mectizan®. Currently, MDP manages annual donations of more than 257 million treatments with Mectizan® and albendazole for LF elimination.
In 2017, WHO recommended the use of a novel triple-drug therapy for LF under certain conditions in countries without river blindness. The three medicines are Mectizan®, diethylcarbamazine, and albendazole. The new therapy – also known as “IDA” (ivermectin, DEC, albendazole) – holds the potential to accelerate LF elimination in countries where the disease is endemic. The Task Force and MDP are working with governmental agencies, Merck, endemic countries, and other partners to establish protocols for administering the triple-drug-therapy on a large scale.
Driving Operational Research to Improve LF Elimination Program Outcomes
The Task Force’s Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center (NTD-SC) supports operational research to help countries overcome barriers to LF elimination. Studies include resolving questions about where MDA is needed, field-testing diagnostic tools, evaluating surveillance methods, and helping ministries of health to address emerging challenges.
As countries move closer to eliminating LF, they need tools to determine when MDA should be stopped. NTD-SC and its partners developed and piloted a mapping tool that provides more reliable assessments of LF in areas with low prevalence. NTD-SC is also supporting trials to test whether an antibiotic reduces swelling associated with LF in its disease state. This study includes testing an iPad-based infrared scanner – previously used in breast cancer patients – to measure leg circumference, which will help determine whether antibiotic treatment is effective.
NTD-SC is also collaborating on studies to determine the feasibility of integrated surveys to assess the prevalence of LF and river blindness in areas where both diseases are prevalent and MDA has been undertaken.
Results
16 Countries
Eliminated Lymphatic Filariasis (Source: Uniting to Combat NTDs)
36 Million
People Who Are Living With Chronic Complications due to Lymphatic Filariasis (Source: Uniting to Combat NTDs)
Programs
Our Experts
Pat Lammie, PhD
Director, Neglected Tropical Diseases Support CenterResources
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Polio
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Polio (poliomyelitis) is an infectious disease that can lead to paralysis and even death. Most people who are infected do not experience symptoms, but can pass the virus on to others. Polio is transmitted person-to-person primarily through contact with feces, so people living in places with poor sanitation are at highest risk. One in about 200 infections leads to paralysis. The disease mainly affects young children, and wild poliovirus is endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
2 Polio endemic countries remain
(Source: GPEI)
Accordion Content
Today, the world is close to eradicating wild polio. In 2018, only 33 new cases of wild polio were reported globally which is nearly a 99% drop since 1988. Despite these tremendous gains, challenges remain in eradicating all forms of the virus. People with weak immune systems can excrete vaccine-derived poliovirus after being immunized with the live oral vaccine. Finally, health systems in low-income countries that are dependent on polio eradication funding could be threatened after the disease is eradicated.
The Task Force for Global Health has been involved in supporting polio eradication for more than 20 years. In 2016, The Task Force supported the synchronized “switch” to a safer form of oral polio vaccine for use in 155 countries, which represented a critical step in the eradication effort. Currently, The Task Force supports the Global Polio Eradication Endgame Strategy through efforts to develop polio antivirals and to contain potentially infectious samples in U.S. laboratories. The Task Force is also supporting “last mile” efforts to eradicate wild-type poliovirus and ensure countries that are dependent on polio funding can continue to sustain immunization programs after the disease is eradicated.
Developing Polio Antivirals to Treat People with Immune Deficiencies
While the world has made great progress toward eradicating wild poliovirus, vaccine-derived poliovirus will remain a threat to eradication of all forms of the disease. This is due to the fact that people with certain immune deficiencies can excrete virulent vaccine-derived poliovirus after being immunized and can potentially infect others. The Task Force’s Polio Antivirals Initiative is working with partners to develop antiviral drugs to treat and stop excretion of vaccine-derived poliovirus in these people. The drugs are soon entering clinical trials and are expected to be available for treatment in 2020-21.Containing Polio Samples in U.S. Laboratories
The Task Force’s Poliovirus Containment project is assisting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with polio eradication in the United States by serving as the Secretariat for the U.S. National Containment Certification Committee. This work reviews and certifies U.S. government efforts to limit and contain poliovirus samples held in U.S. research institutions and laboratories to ensure that poliovirus is not reintroduced into the population.Supporting the “Last Mile” of Polio Eradication in Pakistan
The Task Force’s TEPHINET program is supporting the “last mile” of polio eradication in Pakistan where transmission of wild-type poliovirus persists. TEPHINET provides logistical support to Pakistan’s National Stop Transmission of Polio (N-STOP) program that is working to ensure all 37 million children in the country are immunized. TEPHINET helps N-STOP assure the quality and effectiveness of immunization campaigns and post-campaign monitoring activities. The program also provides support for surveillance of new polio cases through N-STOP’s work with eight Emergency Operations Centers and response units around Pakistan.Transitioning Polio Assets to Other Health Priorities
Significant resources have been devoted to polio eradication. In some developing countries, polio eradication funding represents a significant portion of the annual budgets of health systems. The Task Force is supporting the efforts to develop plans to ensure that these health systems can continue functioning effectively after polio eradication. Currently, The Task Force is working with 16 low-income, politically unstable countries to transition resources and infrastructure used to combat polio to other health priorities. The Task Force’s assistance includes assisting countries in identifying other sources of support for immunization programs after polio eradication and developing plans to transition polio assets to other health priorities.Boosting “Last Mile” Efforts to Eradicate Polio
The Polio Eradication Surge Capacity Support project is a joint CDC effort to boost poliovirus detection and vaccination efforts during the “last mile” of eradication. Though polio cases have been reduced significantly since 1988, there has been a recent spike in cases as the Global Polio Eradication Initiative tries to reach eradication. Supported and in collaboration with the CDC, The Task Force’s Polio Eradication Surge Capacity Support project has been started to increase efforts for a push to tackle this disease.
Results
99%
Decrease in Polio Cases Since the Global Eradication Effort Began in 1988 (Source: WHO)1.5 Million
Estimated Childhood Deaths Prevented through Immunization Activities (Source: WHO)Programs
Our Experts
Victor A. Eboh, MD
Interim Director, Polio Eradication Surge Capacity ProgramResources
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River Blindness
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River Blindness, officially called onchocerciasis, is an infection that is transmitted through the bites of infected blackflies. This neglected tropical disease (NTD) causes intense itching, disfiguring dermatitis, and eye lesions that can lead to blindness. The infection is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness worldwide.
220 Million People
At Risk of Contracting River Blindness (Source: WHO
30 Countries
Onchocerciasis Endemic Countries Remain (Source: WHO)
Accordion Content
In the past 40 years, significant progress has been made to reduce the number of cases and the severity of river blindness globally. The transmission of the disease has been eliminated in four countries in Latin America where the disease was found in remote, rural areas often in coffee plantations. In Africa where the disease is widespread, the number of cases is declining. However, an estimated 200 million people are still at risk of infection in 30 countries. The disease is also prevalent in Yemen in the Wadis where the major manifestation is a cutaneous condition called “Sowda”.
ation Program (MDP) and the Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center (NTD-SC) play key roles in the efforts to eliminate river blindness by 2025. MDP partners with other organizations to distribute large quantities of anti-parasitic medicines in endemic communities and NTD-SC conducts operational research to overcome barriers to the elimination of river blindness.
Managing Donations of Mectizan® for the Elimination of River Blindness
Mectizan® (ivermectin) is an anti-parasitic medicine that can eliminate river blindness when distributed annually to all eligible people living in communities where the disease is transmitted. In 1987, Merck committed to donate Mectizan® to endemic countries through MDP “for as long as needed and as much as needed” to treat river blindness. Since MDP was launched, Merck has donated an estimated 2.8 billion doses of Mectizan® for the treatment of river blindness. MDP is the secretariat of the Mectizan® Expert Committee (MEC), an independent body set up to provide medical, technical, and administrative oversight of the donated medicines. In 2017, MEC approved 258 million treatments for river blindness.
Overcoming Barriers to River Blindness Elimination Through Operational Research
NTD-SC drives a robust operational research portfolio to answer scientific questions about how to overcome barriers to the elimination of river blindness. NTD-SC collaborates with ministries of health, academic institutions, the World Health Organization, and other international organizations to help endemic countries reach elimination goals. More than 50 operational research studies are completed or underway in 18 African countries to map the distribution of river blindness, evaluate the effectiveness of diagnostic tests, and carry out other operational research to accelerate river blindness. A special focus of several studies is developing operational guidance for implementing river blindness elimination programs in areas where people are also infected with another parasite, Loa loa.
Results
4 Countries
Eliminated River Blindness (Source: WHO)154 Million Individuals
Treated in 2019 (Source: WHO)Programs
Our Experts
Yao Sodahlon, MD, MSc,
Director, Mectizan® Donation ProgramResources
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Schistosomiasis
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Schistosomiasis is an infection that affects the liver, bladder, and other internal organs. One of the most devastating parasitic diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, schistosomiasis causes an estimated 200,000 deaths a year. The disease is caused by flatworms carried by fresh water snails. People are infected while swimming, fishing, or participating in other activities in rivers and lakes when the flatworm larvae penetrate human skin and attack internal organs. A neglected tropical disease (NTD), schistosomiasis disproportionately affects children, resulting in stunted growth, learning disabilities, and anemia. More than 230 million people globally are at risk for the disease.
237 Million People
Require Treatment for Schistosomiasis (WHO)
51 Countries
Schistosomiasis Endemic Countries Remain (Source: WHO)Accordion Content
Schistosomiasis is most common in Africa, which carries the burden of 9 out of every 10 cases globally. The global strategy to control schistosomiasis is based upon mass drug administration (MDA) of praziquantel, an anti-parasitic drug. Water, sanitation, and hygiene improvements are also part of comprehensive programs to eliminate the disease.
Schistosomiasis is one of five NTDs that The Task Force for Global Health is working to control or eliminate as a public health problem. The Task Force’s NTD Support Center (NTD-SC) contributes to the elimination of schistosomiasis by driving operational research to improve programmatic outcomes.
Driving Operational Research to Strengthen Control and Elimination Programs
NTD-SC serves as the hub for a coalition of scientists, donors, and implementing partners working to bridge knowledge gaps about schistosomiasis and other NTDs. This group, the Coalition for Operational Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases (COR-NTD), supports research to overcome barriers to eliminating the morbidity due to schistosomiasis. NTD-SC has supported multi-country operational research studies to strengthen programs and protocols for schistosomiasis control. These studies have helped measure prevalence of the disease and evaluate strategies and diagnostics tests to combat it. Access to accurate and real-time data on schistosomiasis prevalence and MDA coverage is critical to success. NTD-SC and WHO collaborated to complete mapping of NTDs, including schistosomiasis, in Africa. NTD-SC also supported assessments of innovative technologies including mHealth Platforms that monitor coverage of MDA activities. These automated phone and text-based systems also measure and communicate the size of drug inventories over the course of large-scale treatment programs. Other NTD-SC sponsored studies have assessed protocols for measuring MDA coverage, comparing the accuracy of school-based to community-based monitoring. Sensitive and rapid diagnostic tests are also needed to measure the success of praziquantel treatments. NTD-SC is helping to assess the effectiveness of diagnostic tools for sensitivity and specificity, including their ability to distinguish active cases of schistosomiasis from historic, but cured, exposures. The focus of these studies is on point-of-care, urine-based or blood-based circulating cathodic antigen rapid diagnostic tests.
Results
78.8 Million Treatments
Donated in 2018 (Source: Uniting to Combat NTDs)
27 Schistosomiasis Projects
Facilitated by NTD-SC and Partners
Our Experts
Pat Lammie, PhD
Director, Neglected Tropical Diseases Support CenterResources
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Trachoma
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Trachoma is a painful eye disease and the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness. This neglected tropical disease (NTD) is caused by a bacteria found naturally in the environment that is spread by flies and person-to-person contact in communities with poor sanitation and hygiene.
167 Million People
at Risk of Trachoma (Source: WHO)
95 Million People
Received Antibiotic Treatment for Trachoma in 2019 (Source: WHO)
Accordion Content
In the past 20 years, remarkable progress has been made in the fight to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem, with a 91 percent reduction in the number of people burdened by the disease worldwide (ICTC). This progress is the result of the implementation of a comprehensive elimination strategy called SAFE: Surgery, Antibiotics, Facial Cleanliness, Environmental Improvements.
The Task Force’s International Trachoma Initiative (ITI) works with pharmaceutical companies, governments, and nongovernmental organizations to ensure SAFE reaches all people threatened by trachoma. For its part, ITI stewards antibiotic donations, supports trachoma elimination programs in endemic countries, and drives evidence-based decision-making.
Stewarding Antibiotic Donations
In support of trachoma elimination programs, ITI manages Pfizer’s donation of the antibiotic Zithromax® (azithromycin). To date, Pfizer has donated more than 876 million doses of Zithromax® to ITI that have benefitted a total of 40 countries. ITI ensures transparency and accountability in the supply chain through its online system, the Zithromax Shipment Tracker, that allows stakeholders to monitor the distribution of antibiotics from Pfizer’s manufacturing facilities to countries. ITI’s stewardship of antibiotic donations includes serving as the secretariat for the Trachoma Expert Committee (TEC), an independent body of internationally recognized experts that meets twice annually to review country applications for donations of the antibiotic Zithromax®. The TEC also advises ITI on strategic, technical, and operational issues.
Supporting Trachoma Elimination Programs in Endemic Countries
ITI provides technical assistance to country partners at the national and local levels in implementing mass drug administration (MDA) of antibiotic. This support includes the development of free massive open online courses or MOOCs that connect program planners and implementers around the world with the latest resources, policy updates, and best practices in trachoma elimination.
Driving Evidence-based Decision-Making
Countries and implementing partners need accurate data about where trachoma is found. From 2012-16, ITI and its partners used sophisticated mobile technologies to create a map of trachoma prevalence worldwide. The Global Trachoma Mapping Project (GTMP) was the largest infectious disease survey ever undertaken. In 2016, the World Health Organization built on the success of GTMP to launch Tropical Data, a mapping project for all NTDs.
A major challenge for trachoma elimination programs is determining when to stop MDA. Among other projects, The Task Force’s Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center develops diagnostics and tools to assess whether trachoma has been eliminated as a public health problem within populations.
Results
31.1 Million Antibiotic Treatments
Shipped by ITI
12 Countries
Receive Antibiotics from ITI
Programs
What is Trachoma?
Our Experts
Pat Lammie, PhD
Director, Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center
Carla Johnson
Supply Chain Manager, International Trachoma InitiativeResources
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Viral Hepatitis
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Viral Hepatitis is a serious threat to global health. Hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) viruses spread from person to person through blood and other bodily fluids. Hepatitis transmission is an especially big problem in Asian and African countries. Poor infection control in hospitals and inadequate screening of the blood supply allow the virus to spread virtually unchecked. Hepatitis is also a significant health problem for developed countries, including the United States.
300 Million People
Affected by HBV and HCV (Source: WHO)
1.3 Million People
Die of Viral Hepatitis Yearly (Source: WHO)
Accordion Content
Once inside the body, hepatitis launches a stealthy attack on the liver. Silently and without symptoms, these viral infections inflame and scar the liver, eventually leading to severe scarring (cirrhosis) and liver cancer. The lack of outward signs, combined with a lack of knowledge about the disease among the public and doctors, and poor access to screening tests, is why only one in ten people with hepatitis know they’ve been infected (WHO).
It is possible to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat. Highly effective, and cost-effective interventions are available to prevent transmission of the virus, diagnose infections before people become ill, prevent and treat HBV, and cure HCV to prevent premature deaths.
In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) set the ambitious goal of eliminating viral hepatitis as a public health problem by 2030. The organization’s aim is to reduce hepatitis transmission by 95 percent, and deaths by 65 percent. Achieving these goals by 2030 will prevent 7 million deaths from viral hepatitis. Dramatic improvements in treatment over the last few years have made this once impossible goal realistic. Thanks to new antiviral drugs, over 95 percent of people with hepatitis C can be cured within three months of starting treatment and the first-ever cancer preventing vaccine can prevent hepatitis B.
Several challenges still stand in the way of developing and implementing successful hepatitis elimination programs.
- Lack of strategic information: Countries need information to assess the extent of their viral hepatitis problem and determine how to prepare their existing health system to deliver hepatitis preventive, testing, and treatment services at a feasible cost.
- Newborn vaccination: A dose of hepatitis B vaccine, preferably within 24 hours of birth, followed by two doses of infant immunizations, decreases the risk of HBV transmission from mother to child by 90 percent. However, only about four in 10 newborns around the world – and fewer than one in 10 children in Sub-Saharan Africa – receive this vaccine.
- Preventing bloodborne exposures: Although infection control has greatly improved, unsafe injections and other exposures in hospitals and clinics are responsible for most new HCV infections. People who inject drugs are also at high risk for hepatitis.
- Testing: To identify people who are infected, countries need access to accurate and affordable screening tests for segments of the general population, and for people with specific hepatitis risks. Testing programs that link to treatment programs are too expensive a burden for many countries to shoulder.
- The cost of treatment: The price of sofosbuvir (Sovaldi), the first curative treatment for hepatitis C, was once $84,000 (Pharmacy Times). Manufacturers like Gilead have since released generic versions of antiviral drugs that have brought the cost of a cure down considerably. More than 100 countries can now access generic medicines for $200 or less per cure. Hepatitis drug prices are expected to drop even more in the years to come.
In the spring of 2018, John Ward, MD, a senior scientist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), came to The Task Force for Global Health to develop a viral hepatitis elimination initiative called the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination. Under Ward’s direction, and in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other partners, the Coalition was born.
The Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination (CGHE) works to eliminate viral hepatitis by strengthening the capacity of elimination programs around the world through technical assistance, knowledge generation, and advocacy among partners.
The Goals
The aim of the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination is to build a “community of practice around viral elimination.” Experts from around the globe will share the evidence-based information they’ve gathered while working on successful virus elimination programs to help at-risk countries create their own solutions. The program is centered around five main axes:
- Building a community practice
- Providing useful information
- Offering technical assistance
- Developing operational research
- Raising public awareness.
To create a truly global movement, all of the information gathered will be made available in one central repository—www.globalhep.org. Its audience will include Coalition members working on viral hepatitis prevention, care, treatment, and elimination.
The Partners
To achieve its goals, the Coalition will rely on a number of financial and technical partners. Nonprofit sector partnerships include organizations such as the Clinton Health Access Initiative, which provides low-cost medications to the developing world, as well as Partners in Health, WHO, and the CDC. A number of private sector partners including industry and foundations are providing financial support to the Coalition.
The Task Force has signed up several countries to join the Coalition, including Mongolia, Georgia, Egypt, Iceland, Switzerland, the United States, Japan, Australia, and Rwanda. The hope is that all national elimination programs will eventually join the network.
Supporting Hepatitis Interventions
TEPHINET, a network of field epidemiology training programs based at The Task Force, works with countries in Europe and the Middle East to support the implementation of prevention and intervention strategies for viral hepatitis. TEPHINET manages and supports Infectious Disease Detection, Prevention, and Elimination projects, including providing Support for Hepatitis C Elimination in Georgia, developing Best Practices for Hepatitis C Virus Elimination, and Viral Hepatitis Prevention and Control in Pakistan.
Results
38 Programs
Established by Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination Members
44 Countries
Supported by Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination Programs
Programs
Recent News
Our Experts
John Ward, MD
Director, Coalition for Global Hepatitis EliminationResources
Soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH), a neglected tropical disease (NTD) more commonly known as intestinal worms, is the most common infectious disease in the world, affecting an estimated 1.5 billion people in 105 countries. STH causes malnutrition that contributes to stunted growth and weakened cognitive development, especially in children. Women of reproductive age are particularly susceptible to the effects of anemia caused by STH infections. People are infected by ingesting soil contaminated by human feces or by skin contact with the soil. Prevalence is highest in areas where sanitation and hygiene are poor.
1.5 Billion
People are infected with STH infections worldwide. (Source: WHO)
Accordion Content
Significant progress has been made in recent years in reducing the STH burden. Since 2006, the number of countries requiring mass drug administration (MDA) for STH has decreased more than 20 percent from 130 to 103 and global treatment coverage for children has increased from 15 to 75 percent. Deworming programs are now being expanded to include women of reproductive age.
The Task Force for Global Health supports global efforts to eliminate STH as a public health problem by driving partnerships, providing technical assistance to national programs, and driving operational research to overcome barriers to reaching STH elimination goals.
Driving Partnerships to Eliminate STH As A Public Health Problem
The Task Force’s Children Without Worms (CWW) program is the secretariat or hub for the STH Coalition consisting of more than 60 partners working to eliminate STH as a public health problem. The coalition was established in 2006 as a partnership between Johnson & Johnson and The Task Force for Global Health and works to coordinate actions and leverage resources in the fight against STH. CWW also serves as the secretariat for the STH Advisory Committee. The committee is an independent, international group of experts who provide strategic technical and scientific advise on STH control to the scientific community, country programs, and the pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Johnson & Johnson that donate deworming medicines.
Providing Technical Assistance to Strengthen Programmatic Outcomes
CWW supports a number of countries and partners in all aspects of STH MDA planning,
implementation, and impact measurement. This includes assisting pharmaceutical partners in the management of supply chains for donated deworming medicines and helping countries measure progress toward reaching deworming coverage goals. CWW also provides support to countries in measuring the impact of deworming programs. These efforts include improved surveillance methods for monitoring STH prevalence levels and conducting costs analysis of the benefits of deworming programs.
Conducting Operational Research to Overcome Barriers to Elimination
The Task Force supports operational research to strengthen deworming programs in countries around the world. CWW is working with STH Coalition partners to develop a low-cost test for detecting drug resistance in STH parasites, which could threaten the effectiveness of STH control programs. In addition, The Task Force’s Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center (NTD-SC) is working on more than 15 STH studies including ways to integrate MDA for STH and lymphatic filariasis and improve surveillance for both diseases where they are endemic. NTD-SC is also supporting studies to improve the use of data in deworming programs.
Results
1 Billion
576 Million
Our Experts
Pat Lammie, PhD
Resources
Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a parasitic disease transmitted to humans through the bites of mosquitoes. Over time, infection can damage the lymphatic system leading to severe swelling of the limbs and genitals resulting in disability and social stigma. One of the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), LF threatens almost 857 million people in 53 countries in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and South America.
120 Million
people are affected by LF globally. (Source: CDC)
Accordion Content
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set a goal of eliminating LF as a public health problem worldwide. The global elimination program uses mass drug administration (MDA) of anti-parasitic medicines to prevent new infections and new cases where the disease is endemic
Interrupting the transmission of LF globally requires repeated annual MDA in endemic communities for six or more years. The global elimination program accelerated in 2018 with the adoption of new mass treatment approaches, increased country-level uptake of drug donations, and advances in operational research.
The Task Force for Global Health contributes to the global LF elimination program by hosting one of the major global drug donation programs of anti-parasitic medicines and driving operational research to improve programmatic outcomes.
Supporting Mass Treatment Programs for LF Elimination
As an NTD program at The Task Force, the Mectizan® Donation Program (MDP), manages the donation of Mectizan® (ivermectin), an anti-parasitic drug donated by Merck. Initially established in 1987 to manage the donation of Mectizan® for river blindness (onchocerciasis), MDP was expanded in 1998 when Merck committed to donate Mectizan® for the elimination of LF in African countries where onchocerciasis and LF are co-endemic. In these settings, Mectizan® is co-administered with albendazole (donated by GSK), per WHO recommendations.
As part of its stewardship of Merck’s in-kind donations, MDP regularly convenes the Mectizan Expert Committee, which reviews and approves countries’ applications for Mectizan®. Currently, MDP manages annual donations of more than 257 million treatments with Mectizan® and albendazole for LF elimination.
In 2017, WHO recommended the use of a novel triple-drug therapy for LF under certain conditions in countries without river blindness. The three medicines are Mectizan®, diethylcarbamazine, and albendazole. The new therapy – also known as “IDA” (ivermectin, DEC, albendazole) – holds the potential to accelerate LF elimination in countries where the disease is endemic. The Task Force and MDP are working with governmental agencies, Merck, endemic countries, and other partners to establish protocols for administering the triple-drug-therapy on a large scale.
Driving Operational Research to Improve LF Elimination Program Outcomes
The Task Force’s Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center (NTD-SC) supports operational research to help countries overcome barriers to LF elimination. Studies include resolving questions about where MDA is needed, field-testing diagnostic tools, evaluating surveillance methods, and helping ministries of health to address emerging challenges.
As countries move closer to eliminating LF, they need tools to determine when MDA should be stopped. NTD-SC and its partners developed and piloted a mapping tool that provides more reliable assessments of LF in areas with low prevalence. NTD-SC is also supporting trials to test whether an antibiotic reduces swelling associated with LF in its disease state. This study includes testing an iPad-based infrared scanner – previously used in breast cancer patients – to measure leg circumference, which will help determine whether antibiotic treatment is effective.
NTD-SC is also collaborating on studies to determine the feasibility of integrated surveys to assess the prevalence of LF and river blindness in areas where both diseases are prevalent and MDA has been undertaken.
Results
16 Countries
Eliminated Lymphatic Filariasis (Source: Uniting to Combat NTDs)
36 Million
People Who Are Living With Chronic Complications due to Lymphatic Filariasis (Source: Uniting to Combat NTDs)
Programs
Our Experts
Pat Lammie, PhD
Resources
Polio (poliomyelitis) is an infectious disease that can lead to paralysis and even death. Most people who are infected do not experience symptoms, but can pass the virus on to others. Polio is transmitted person-to-person primarily through contact with feces, so people living in places with poor sanitation are at highest risk. One in about 200 infections leads to paralysis. The disease mainly affects young children, and wild poliovirus is endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
2 Polio endemic countries remain
(Source: GPEI)
Accordion Content
Today, the world is close to eradicating wild polio. In 2018, only 33 new cases of wild polio were reported globally which is nearly a 99% drop since 1988. Despite these tremendous gains, challenges remain in eradicating all forms of the virus. People with weak immune systems can excrete vaccine-derived poliovirus after being immunized with the live oral vaccine. Finally, health systems in low-income countries that are dependent on polio eradication funding could be threatened after the disease is eradicated.
The Task Force for Global Health has been involved in supporting polio eradication for more than 20 years. In 2016, The Task Force supported the synchronized “switch” to a safer form of oral polio vaccine for use in 155 countries, which represented a critical step in the eradication effort. Currently, The Task Force supports the Global Polio Eradication Endgame Strategy through efforts to develop polio antivirals and to contain potentially infectious samples in U.S. laboratories. The Task Force is also supporting “last mile” efforts to eradicate wild-type poliovirus and ensure countries that are dependent on polio funding can continue to sustain immunization programs after the disease is eradicated.
Developing Polio Antivirals to Treat People with Immune Deficiencies
While the world has made great progress toward eradicating wild poliovirus, vaccine-derived poliovirus will remain a threat to eradication of all forms of the disease. This is due to the fact that people with certain immune deficiencies can excrete virulent vaccine-derived poliovirus after being immunized and can potentially infect others. The Task Force’s Polio Antivirals Initiative is working with partners to develop antiviral drugs to treat and stop excretion of vaccine-derived poliovirus in these people. The drugs are soon entering clinical trials and are expected to be available for treatment in 2020-21.
Containing Polio Samples in U.S. Laboratories
The Task Force’s Poliovirus Containment project is assisting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with polio eradication in the United States by serving as the Secretariat for the U.S. National Containment Certification Committee. This work reviews and certifies U.S. government efforts to limit and contain poliovirus samples held in U.S. research institutions and laboratories to ensure that poliovirus is not reintroduced into the population.
Supporting the “Last Mile” of Polio Eradication in Pakistan
The Task Force’s TEPHINET program is supporting the “last mile” of polio eradication in Pakistan where transmission of wild-type poliovirus persists. TEPHINET provides logistical support to Pakistan’s National Stop Transmission of Polio (N-STOP) program that is working to ensure all 37 million children in the country are immunized. TEPHINET helps N-STOP assure the quality and effectiveness of immunization campaigns and post-campaign monitoring activities. The program also provides support for surveillance of new polio cases through N-STOP’s work with eight Emergency Operations Centers and response units around Pakistan.
Transitioning Polio Assets to Other Health Priorities
Significant resources have been devoted to polio eradication. In some developing countries, polio eradication funding represents a significant portion of the annual budgets of health systems. The Task Force is supporting the efforts to develop plans to ensure that these health systems can continue functioning effectively after polio eradication. Currently, The Task Force is working with 16 low-income, politically unstable countries to transition resources and infrastructure used to combat polio to other health priorities. The Task Force’s assistance includes assisting countries in identifying other sources of support for immunization programs after polio eradication and developing plans to transition polio assets to other health priorities.
Boosting “Last Mile” Efforts to Eradicate Polio
The Polio Eradication Surge Capacity Support project is a joint CDC effort to boost poliovirus detection and vaccination efforts during the “last mile” of eradication. Though polio cases have been reduced significantly since 1988, there has been a recent spike in cases as the Global Polio Eradication Initiative tries to reach eradication. Supported and in collaboration with the CDC, The Task Force’s Polio Eradication Surge Capacity Support project has been started to increase efforts for a push to tackle this disease.
Results
99%
1.5 Million
Programs
Our Experts
Victor A. Eboh, MD
Resources
River Blindness, officially called onchocerciasis, is an infection that is transmitted through the bites of infected blackflies. This neglected tropical disease (NTD) causes intense itching, disfiguring dermatitis, and eye lesions that can lead to blindness. The infection is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness worldwide.
220 Million People
At Risk of Contracting River Blindness (Source: WHO
30 Countries
Onchocerciasis Endemic Countries Remain (Source: WHO)
Accordion Content
In the past 40 years, significant progress has been made to reduce the number of cases and the severity of river blindness globally. The transmission of the disease has been eliminated in four countries in Latin America where the disease was found in remote, rural areas often in coffee plantations. In Africa where the disease is widespread, the number of cases is declining. However, an estimated 200 million people are still at risk of infection in 30 countries. The disease is also prevalent in Yemen in the Wadis where the major manifestation is a cutaneous condition called “Sowda”.
ation Program (MDP) and the Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center (NTD-SC) play key roles in the efforts to eliminate river blindness by 2025. MDP partners with other organizations to distribute large quantities of anti-parasitic medicines in endemic communities and NTD-SC conducts operational research to overcome barriers to the elimination of river blindness.
Managing Donations of Mectizan® for the Elimination of River Blindness
Mectizan® (ivermectin) is an anti-parasitic medicine that can eliminate river blindness when distributed annually to all eligible people living in communities where the disease is transmitted. In 1987, Merck committed to donate Mectizan® to endemic countries through MDP “for as long as needed and as much as needed” to treat river blindness. Since MDP was launched, Merck has donated an estimated 2.8 billion doses of Mectizan® for the treatment of river blindness. MDP is the secretariat of the Mectizan® Expert Committee (MEC), an independent body set up to provide medical, technical, and administrative oversight of the donated medicines. In 2017, MEC approved 258 million treatments for river blindness.
Overcoming Barriers to River Blindness Elimination Through Operational Research
NTD-SC drives a robust operational research portfolio to answer scientific questions about how to overcome barriers to the elimination of river blindness. NTD-SC collaborates with ministries of health, academic institutions, the World Health Organization, and other international organizations to help endemic countries reach elimination goals. More than 50 operational research studies are completed or underway in 18 African countries to map the distribution of river blindness, evaluate the effectiveness of diagnostic tests, and carry out other operational research to accelerate river blindness. A special focus of several studies is developing operational guidance for implementing river blindness elimination programs in areas where people are also infected with another parasite, Loa loa.
Results
4 Countries
154 Million Individuals
Programs
Our Experts
Yao Sodahlon, MD, MSc,
Resources
Schistosomiasis is an infection that affects the liver, bladder, and other internal organs. One of the most devastating parasitic diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, schistosomiasis causes an estimated 200,000 deaths a year. The disease is caused by flatworms carried by fresh water snails. People are infected while swimming, fishing, or participating in other activities in rivers and lakes when the flatworm larvae penetrate human skin and attack internal organs. A neglected tropical disease (NTD), schistosomiasis disproportionately affects children, resulting in stunted growth, learning disabilities, and anemia. More than 230 million people globally are at risk for the disease.
237 Million People
Require Treatment for Schistosomiasis (WHO)
51 Countries
Accordion Content
Schistosomiasis is most common in Africa, which carries the burden of 9 out of every 10 cases globally. The global strategy to control schistosomiasis is based upon mass drug administration (MDA) of praziquantel, an anti-parasitic drug. Water, sanitation, and hygiene improvements are also part of comprehensive programs to eliminate the disease.
Schistosomiasis is one of five NTDs that The Task Force for Global Health is working to control or eliminate as a public health problem. The Task Force’s NTD Support Center (NTD-SC) contributes to the elimination of schistosomiasis by driving operational research to improve programmatic outcomes.
Driving Operational Research to Strengthen Control and Elimination Programs
NTD-SC serves as the hub for a coalition of scientists, donors, and implementing partners working to bridge knowledge gaps about schistosomiasis and other NTDs. This group, the Coalition for Operational Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases (COR-NTD), supports research to overcome barriers to eliminating the morbidity due to schistosomiasis. NTD-SC has supported multi-country operational research studies to strengthen programs and protocols for schistosomiasis control. These studies have helped measure prevalence of the disease and evaluate strategies and diagnostics tests to combat it. Access to accurate and real-time data on schistosomiasis prevalence and MDA coverage is critical to success. NTD-SC and WHO collaborated to complete mapping of NTDs, including schistosomiasis, in Africa. NTD-SC also supported assessments of innovative technologies including mHealth Platforms that monitor coverage of MDA activities. These automated phone and text-based systems also measure and communicate the size of drug inventories over the course of large-scale treatment programs. Other NTD-SC sponsored studies have assessed protocols for measuring MDA coverage, comparing the accuracy of school-based to community-based monitoring. Sensitive and rapid diagnostic tests are also needed to measure the success of praziquantel treatments. NTD-SC is helping to assess the effectiveness of diagnostic tools for sensitivity and specificity, including their ability to distinguish active cases of schistosomiasis from historic, but cured, exposures. The focus of these studies is on point-of-care, urine-based or blood-based circulating cathodic antigen rapid diagnostic tests.
Results
78.8 Million Treatments
Donated in 2018 (Source: Uniting to Combat NTDs)
27 Schistosomiasis Projects
Facilitated by NTD-SC and Partners
Our Experts
Pat Lammie, PhD
Resources
Trachoma is a painful eye disease and the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness. This neglected tropical disease (NTD) is caused by a bacteria found naturally in the environment that is spread by flies and person-to-person contact in communities with poor sanitation and hygiene.
167 Million People
at Risk of Trachoma (Source: WHO)
95 Million People
Received Antibiotic Treatment for Trachoma in 2019 (Source: WHO)
Accordion Content
In the past 20 years, remarkable progress has been made in the fight to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem, with a 91 percent reduction in the number of people burdened by the disease worldwide (ICTC). This progress is the result of the implementation of a comprehensive elimination strategy called SAFE: Surgery, Antibiotics, Facial Cleanliness, Environmental Improvements.
The Task Force’s International Trachoma Initiative (ITI) works with pharmaceutical companies, governments, and nongovernmental organizations to ensure SAFE reaches all people threatened by trachoma. For its part, ITI stewards antibiotic donations, supports trachoma elimination programs in endemic countries, and drives evidence-based decision-making.
Stewarding Antibiotic Donations
In support of trachoma elimination programs, ITI manages Pfizer’s donation of the antibiotic Zithromax® (azithromycin). To date, Pfizer has donated more than 876 million doses of Zithromax® to ITI that have benefitted a total of 40 countries. ITI ensures transparency and accountability in the supply chain through its online system, the Zithromax Shipment Tracker, that allows stakeholders to monitor the distribution of antibiotics from Pfizer’s manufacturing facilities to countries. ITI’s stewardship of antibiotic donations includes serving as the secretariat for the Trachoma Expert Committee (TEC), an independent body of internationally recognized experts that meets twice annually to review country applications for donations of the antibiotic Zithromax®. The TEC also advises ITI on strategic, technical, and operational issues.
Supporting Trachoma Elimination Programs in Endemic Countries
ITI provides technical assistance to country partners at the national and local levels in implementing mass drug administration (MDA) of antibiotic. This support includes the development of free massive open online courses or MOOCs that connect program planners and implementers around the world with the latest resources, policy updates, and best practices in trachoma elimination.
Driving Evidence-based Decision-Making
Countries and implementing partners need accurate data about where trachoma is found. From 2012-16, ITI and its partners used sophisticated mobile technologies to create a map of trachoma prevalence worldwide. The Global Trachoma Mapping Project (GTMP) was the largest infectious disease survey ever undertaken. In 2016, the World Health Organization built on the success of GTMP to launch Tropical Data, a mapping project for all NTDs.
A major challenge for trachoma elimination programs is determining when to stop MDA. Among other projects, The Task Force’s Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center develops diagnostics and tools to assess whether trachoma has been eliminated as a public health problem within populations.
Results
31.1 Million Antibiotic Treatments
Shipped by ITI
12 Countries
Receive Antibiotics from ITI
Programs
What is Trachoma?
Our Experts
Pat Lammie, PhD
Carla Johnson
Resources
Viral Hepatitis is a serious threat to global health. Hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) viruses spread from person to person through blood and other bodily fluids. Hepatitis transmission is an especially big problem in Asian and African countries. Poor infection control in hospitals and inadequate screening of the blood supply allow the virus to spread virtually unchecked. Hepatitis is also a significant health problem for developed countries, including the United States.
300 Million People
Affected by HBV and HCV (Source: WHO)
1.3 Million People
Die of Viral Hepatitis Yearly (Source: WHO)
Accordion Content
Once inside the body, hepatitis launches a stealthy attack on the liver. Silently and without symptoms, these viral infections inflame and scar the liver, eventually leading to severe scarring (cirrhosis) and liver cancer. The lack of outward signs, combined with a lack of knowledge about the disease among the public and doctors, and poor access to screening tests, is why only one in ten people with hepatitis know they’ve been infected (WHO).
It is possible to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat. Highly effective, and cost-effective interventions are available to prevent transmission of the virus, diagnose infections before people become ill, prevent and treat HBV, and cure HCV to prevent premature deaths.
In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) set the ambitious goal of eliminating viral hepatitis as a public health problem by 2030. The organization’s aim is to reduce hepatitis transmission by 95 percent, and deaths by 65 percent. Achieving these goals by 2030 will prevent 7 million deaths from viral hepatitis. Dramatic improvements in treatment over the last few years have made this once impossible goal realistic. Thanks to new antiviral drugs, over 95 percent of people with hepatitis C can be cured within three months of starting treatment and the first-ever cancer preventing vaccine can prevent hepatitis B.
Several challenges still stand in the way of developing and implementing successful hepatitis elimination programs.
- Lack of strategic information: Countries need information to assess the extent of their viral hepatitis problem and determine how to prepare their existing health system to deliver hepatitis preventive, testing, and treatment services at a feasible cost.
- Newborn vaccination: A dose of hepatitis B vaccine, preferably within 24 hours of birth, followed by two doses of infant immunizations, decreases the risk of HBV transmission from mother to child by 90 percent. However, only about four in 10 newborns around the world – and fewer than one in 10 children in Sub-Saharan Africa – receive this vaccine.
- Preventing bloodborne exposures: Although infection control has greatly improved, unsafe injections and other exposures in hospitals and clinics are responsible for most new HCV infections. People who inject drugs are also at high risk for hepatitis.
- Testing: To identify people who are infected, countries need access to accurate and affordable screening tests for segments of the general population, and for people with specific hepatitis risks. Testing programs that link to treatment programs are too expensive a burden for many countries to shoulder.
- The cost of treatment: The price of sofosbuvir (Sovaldi), the first curative treatment for hepatitis C, was once $84,000 (Pharmacy Times). Manufacturers like Gilead have since released generic versions of antiviral drugs that have brought the cost of a cure down considerably. More than 100 countries can now access generic medicines for $200 or less per cure. Hepatitis drug prices are expected to drop even more in the years to come.
In the spring of 2018, John Ward, MD, a senior scientist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), came to The Task Force for Global Health to develop a viral hepatitis elimination initiative called the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination. Under Ward’s direction, and in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other partners, the Coalition was born.
The Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination (CGHE) works to eliminate viral hepatitis by strengthening the capacity of elimination programs around the world through technical assistance, knowledge generation, and advocacy among partners.
The Goals
The aim of the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination is to build a “community of practice around viral elimination.” Experts from around the globe will share the evidence-based information they’ve gathered while working on successful virus elimination programs to help at-risk countries create their own solutions. The program is centered around five main axes:
- Building a community practice
- Providing useful information
- Offering technical assistance
- Developing operational research
- Raising public awareness.
To create a truly global movement, all of the information gathered will be made available in one central repository—www.globalhep.org. Its audience will include Coalition members working on viral hepatitis prevention, care, treatment, and elimination.
The Partners
To achieve its goals, the Coalition will rely on a number of financial and technical partners. Nonprofit sector partnerships include organizations such as the Clinton Health Access Initiative, which provides low-cost medications to the developing world, as well as Partners in Health, WHO, and the CDC. A number of private sector partners including industry and foundations are providing financial support to the Coalition.
The Task Force has signed up several countries to join the Coalition, including Mongolia, Georgia, Egypt, Iceland, Switzerland, the United States, Japan, Australia, and Rwanda. The hope is that all national elimination programs will eventually join the network.
Supporting Hepatitis Interventions
TEPHINET, a network of field epidemiology training programs based at The Task Force, works with countries in Europe and the Middle East to support the implementation of prevention and intervention strategies for viral hepatitis. TEPHINET manages and supports Infectious Disease Detection, Prevention, and Elimination projects, including providing Support for Hepatitis C Elimination in Georgia, developing Best Practices for Hepatitis C Virus Elimination, and Viral Hepatitis Prevention and Control in Pakistan.
Results
38 Programs
Established by Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination Members
44 Countries
Supported by Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination Programs
Programs
Recent News
Our Experts
John Ward, MD
Resources
-
Influenza & Pandemic Preparedness
-
Throughout the world, there is a constant global threat of respiratory virus epidemics and pandemics. The question is not if, but when the next pandemic will occur – and how devastating it will be. The Task Force supports Pandemic Preparedness by helping countries develop stable vaccine delivery systems for all ages, such as influenza and COVID-19, which provide countries with the experience and infrastructure necessary for effective and efficient response during a pandemic. Stable vaccine programs strengthen global security, as countries establish and regularly test the vaccine systems that save lives today – and tomorrow.
Accordion Content
The COVID-19 vaccine was developed in record time, and the roll-out was the fastest in history – allowing for the protection of millions of people. However, the roll-out also laid bare the weaknesses within the global vaccine delivery systems. Despite advances in the areas of vaccine development, populations around the world remain vulnerable to pandemics and other infectious disease epidemics because of weak and inconsistent vaccine delivery systems, greater population density, more interaction with wild and domestic animals, and more global travel than ever before.The Task Force for Global Health is committed to helping countries protect their populations from seasonal influenza, COVID-19 and other respiratory threats, while preparing them to respond to the next pandemic.To ensure access to effective vaccine programs, The Task Force for Global Health brought its respiratory virus programs together under one umbrella known as the Respiratory Virus Prevention and Preparedness Programs (RVPP). These programs include: the Partnership for International Vaccine Initiatives (PIVI), Strengthening Outbreak Notification and Response (SONAR), and the Global Funders Consortium for Universal Influenza Vaccine Development. Vaccination programs for pandemic response and annual disease prevention are critical in ensuring overall pandemic readiness and health system strengthening. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become even more critical to improve vaccine access and sustain vaccination programs for adults and healthcare workers. The Task Force’s Respiratory Virus Prevention and Preparedness Programs ensure pandemic preparedness at three levels – the community level, the national level, and the global level. The overlap and intersection of these are key when it comes to countries implementing self-sustaining and stable vaccine programs. The Programs work together to ensure that all countries have the tools, knowledge, and commitment necessary to implement and maintain vaccine programs. Our collection of programs and initiatives help create an amplified impact on global vaccination systems while providing tailored technical assistance to countries around the world. Our expertise allows for improved collaboration with external stakeholders on new and future vaccines, vaccine availability, vaccine program implementation, and vaccine acceptance and demand.TEPHINET, a network of field epidemiology training programs based at The Task Force, supports efforts to strengthen surveillance of influenza outbreaks in Central America and Central Asia. Efforts in Central America focus on the development of local capacity to create a regional surveillance system to detect flu and related epidemics. In Central Asia, TEPHINET is supporting nine sentinel surveillance sites by training frontline health workers and supporting the development of an electronic surveillance system for influenza.Results
4.2 Million Doses
Of Flu Vaccine Provided to Countries by PIVI
17 Countries
Supported with Technical Assistance by PIVI
5.1 Million Vaccines
Influenza vaccines delivered12% Increase
In COVID-19 vaccine coverage in partner countries
Our Experts
Joe Bresee
Director, Respiratory Virus Prevention and Preparedness -
Polio
-
Polio (poliomyelitis) is an infectious disease that can lead to paralysis and even death. Most people who are infected do not experience symptoms, but can pass the virus on to others. Polio is transmitted person-to-person primarily through contact with feces, so people living in places with poor sanitation are at highest risk. One in about 200 infections leads to paralysis. The disease mainly affects young children, and wild poliovirus is endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
2 Polio endemic countries remain
(Source: GPEI)
Accordion Content
Today, the world is close to eradicating wild polio. In 2018, only 33 new cases of wild polio were reported globally which is nearly a 99% drop since 1988. Despite these tremendous gains, challenges remain in eradicating all forms of the virus. People with weak immune systems can excrete vaccine-derived poliovirus after being immunized with the live oral vaccine. Finally, health systems in low-income countries that are dependent on polio eradication funding could be threatened after the disease is eradicated.
The Task Force for Global Health has been involved in supporting polio eradication for more than 20 years. In 2016, The Task Force supported the synchronized “switch” to a safer form of oral polio vaccine for use in 155 countries, which represented a critical step in the eradication effort. Currently, The Task Force supports the Global Polio Eradication Endgame Strategy through efforts to develop polio antivirals and to contain potentially infectious samples in U.S. laboratories. The Task Force is also supporting “last mile” efforts to eradicate wild-type poliovirus and ensure countries that are dependent on polio funding can continue to sustain immunization programs after the disease is eradicated.
Developing Polio Antivirals to Treat People with Immune Deficiencies
While the world has made great progress toward eradicating wild poliovirus, vaccine-derived poliovirus will remain a threat to eradication of all forms of the disease. This is due to the fact that people with certain immune deficiencies can excrete virulent vaccine-derived poliovirus after being immunized and can potentially infect others. The Task Force’s Polio Antivirals Initiative is working with partners to develop antiviral drugs to treat and stop excretion of vaccine-derived poliovirus in these people. The drugs are soon entering clinical trials and are expected to be available for treatment in 2020-21.Containing Polio Samples in U.S. Laboratories
The Task Force’s Poliovirus Containment project is assisting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with polio eradication in the United States by serving as the Secretariat for the U.S. National Containment Certification Committee. This work reviews and certifies U.S. government efforts to limit and contain poliovirus samples held in U.S. research institutions and laboratories to ensure that poliovirus is not reintroduced into the population.Supporting the “Last Mile” of Polio Eradication in Pakistan
The Task Force’s TEPHINET program is supporting the “last mile” of polio eradication in Pakistan where transmission of wild-type poliovirus persists. TEPHINET provides logistical support to Pakistan’s National Stop Transmission of Polio (N-STOP) program that is working to ensure all 37 million children in the country are immunized. TEPHINET helps N-STOP assure the quality and effectiveness of immunization campaigns and post-campaign monitoring activities. The program also provides support for surveillance of new polio cases through N-STOP’s work with eight Emergency Operations Centers and response units around Pakistan.Transitioning Polio Assets to Other Health Priorities
Significant resources have been devoted to polio eradication. In some developing countries, polio eradication funding represents a significant portion of the annual budgets of health systems. The Task Force is supporting the efforts to develop plans to ensure that these health systems can continue functioning effectively after polio eradication. Currently, The Task Force is working with 16 low-income, politically unstable countries to transition resources and infrastructure used to combat polio to other health priorities. The Task Force’s assistance includes assisting countries in identifying other sources of support for immunization programs after polio eradication and developing plans to transition polio assets to other health priorities.Boosting “Last Mile” Efforts to Eradicate Polio
The Polio Eradication Surge Capacity Support project is a joint CDC effort to boost poliovirus detection and vaccination efforts during the “last mile” of eradication. Though polio cases have been reduced significantly since 1988, there has been a recent spike in cases as the Global Polio Eradication Initiative tries to reach eradication. Supported and in collaboration with the CDC, The Task Force’s Polio Eradication Surge Capacity Support project has been started to increase efforts for a push to tackle this disease.
Results
99%
Decrease in Polio Cases Since the Global Eradication Effort Began in 1988 (Source: WHO)1.5 Million
Estimated Childhood Deaths Prevented through Immunization Activities (Source: WHO)Programs
Our Experts
Victor A. Eboh, MD
Interim Director, Polio Eradication Surge Capacity ProgramResources
Accordion Content
Results
4.2 Million Doses
Of Flu Vaccine Provided to Countries by PIVI
17 Countries
Supported with Technical Assistance by PIVI
5.1 Million Vaccines
12% Increase
In COVID-19 vaccine coverage in partner countries
Our Experts
Joe Bresee
Polio (poliomyelitis) is an infectious disease that can lead to paralysis and even death. Most people who are infected do not experience symptoms, but can pass the virus on to others. Polio is transmitted person-to-person primarily through contact with feces, so people living in places with poor sanitation are at highest risk. One in about 200 infections leads to paralysis. The disease mainly affects young children, and wild poliovirus is endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
2 Polio endemic countries remain
(Source: GPEI)
Accordion Content
Today, the world is close to eradicating wild polio. In 2018, only 33 new cases of wild polio were reported globally which is nearly a 99% drop since 1988. Despite these tremendous gains, challenges remain in eradicating all forms of the virus. People with weak immune systems can excrete vaccine-derived poliovirus after being immunized with the live oral vaccine. Finally, health systems in low-income countries that are dependent on polio eradication funding could be threatened after the disease is eradicated.
The Task Force for Global Health has been involved in supporting polio eradication for more than 20 years. In 2016, The Task Force supported the synchronized “switch” to a safer form of oral polio vaccine for use in 155 countries, which represented a critical step in the eradication effort. Currently, The Task Force supports the Global Polio Eradication Endgame Strategy through efforts to develop polio antivirals and to contain potentially infectious samples in U.S. laboratories. The Task Force is also supporting “last mile” efforts to eradicate wild-type poliovirus and ensure countries that are dependent on polio funding can continue to sustain immunization programs after the disease is eradicated.
Developing Polio Antivirals to Treat People with Immune Deficiencies
While the world has made great progress toward eradicating wild poliovirus, vaccine-derived poliovirus will remain a threat to eradication of all forms of the disease. This is due to the fact that people with certain immune deficiencies can excrete virulent vaccine-derived poliovirus after being immunized and can potentially infect others. The Task Force’s Polio Antivirals Initiative is working with partners to develop antiviral drugs to treat and stop excretion of vaccine-derived poliovirus in these people. The drugs are soon entering clinical trials and are expected to be available for treatment in 2020-21.
Containing Polio Samples in U.S. Laboratories
The Task Force’s Poliovirus Containment project is assisting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with polio eradication in the United States by serving as the Secretariat for the U.S. National Containment Certification Committee. This work reviews and certifies U.S. government efforts to limit and contain poliovirus samples held in U.S. research institutions and laboratories to ensure that poliovirus is not reintroduced into the population.
Supporting the “Last Mile” of Polio Eradication in Pakistan
The Task Force’s TEPHINET program is supporting the “last mile” of polio eradication in Pakistan where transmission of wild-type poliovirus persists. TEPHINET provides logistical support to Pakistan’s National Stop Transmission of Polio (N-STOP) program that is working to ensure all 37 million children in the country are immunized. TEPHINET helps N-STOP assure the quality and effectiveness of immunization campaigns and post-campaign monitoring activities. The program also provides support for surveillance of new polio cases through N-STOP’s work with eight Emergency Operations Centers and response units around Pakistan.
Transitioning Polio Assets to Other Health Priorities
Significant resources have been devoted to polio eradication. In some developing countries, polio eradication funding represents a significant portion of the annual budgets of health systems. The Task Force is supporting the efforts to develop plans to ensure that these health systems can continue functioning effectively after polio eradication. Currently, The Task Force is working with 16 low-income, politically unstable countries to transition resources and infrastructure used to combat polio to other health priorities. The Task Force’s assistance includes assisting countries in identifying other sources of support for immunization programs after polio eradication and developing plans to transition polio assets to other health priorities.
Boosting “Last Mile” Efforts to Eradicate Polio
The Polio Eradication Surge Capacity Support project is a joint CDC effort to boost poliovirus detection and vaccination efforts during the “last mile” of eradication. Though polio cases have been reduced significantly since 1988, there has been a recent spike in cases as the Global Polio Eradication Initiative tries to reach eradication. Supported and in collaboration with the CDC, The Task Force’s Polio Eradication Surge Capacity Support project has been started to increase efforts for a push to tackle this disease.
Results
99%
1.5 Million
Programs
Our Experts
Victor A. Eboh, MD
Resources
-
Disease Surveillance
-
Disease Surveillance helps countries assess the health of their populations in order for them to identify what diseases are affecting their communities and the prevalence of specific diseases for elimination efforts. At The Task Force, a number of our programs work with countries to provide effective field-based tools and strategies for disease surveillance and ensuring that the country has sustainable capacity to conduct ongoing disease surveillance.
Accordion Content
Public health programs targeting infectious diseases require sophisticated systems for monitoring changes in health status within populations. These systems include trained frontline health workers who can recognize disease outbreaks, diagnostic technologies that can identify infections, and health information systems to manage data.
As COVID-19 demonstrated, countries around the world lack robust disease surveillance systems. This can be due to insufficient resources, inadequate public health capacity, and outdated or poor health information systems. As a result, populations are at greater risk of disease outbreaks that can spread uncontrollably, leading to deadly epidemics and pandemics like Ebola and COVID-19.
With our partners, we support a range of public health activities to help countries build the public health capacity needed for strong disease surveillance.
To strengthen these systems for the next emergency, The Task Force, in collaboration with Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and World Health Organization (WHO) – is working as the implementing partner for The Global Fund’s SONAR (Strengthening Outbreak Notification And Response) program. Through SONAR, The Task Force provides technical assistance to low- and middle- income partner countries to strengthen their efforts to establish comprehensive, coordinated surveillance systems capable of detecting emerging outbreaks, tracking the course of pathogens through the community, linking laboratory and epidemiological data from the same cases, while making the data accessible in a form readily understandable by decision makers.
Supporting Surveillance Projects
The Global Fund has tapped TFGH as its implementing partner for SONAR because of the diverse expertise from various programs at TFGH, including PIVI and PHII. SONAR aims to enhance early warning surveillance in low- and middle-income countries by:
- Implement early warning surveillance and epidemic intelligence systems to shorten time to detection and reporting of and response to outbreaks.
- Increase interconnectivity between laboratory and epidemiologic data systems, including health facility and community level event reporting.
- Improve accessibility and use of data for response.
TEPHINET manages projects in developing countries that help strengthen their disease surveillance in the following areas:
- Public health applied research and surveillance which includes projects like Evaluating and Enhancing Maternal and Prenatal Death Surveillance and Response,
- Strengthening field epidemiology training programs which includes projects like Developing a FETP Cancer Curriculum,
- Strengthening public health infrastructure which includes projects like Innovative and Sustainable Global Laboratory Training and Efficiency Enhancement, and
- Non-communicable disease detection, prevention, and elimination which includes projects like Advancing Birth Defects Count.
These projects help regions and countries improve their disease surveillance efforts ultimately strengthening their health system.
Surveying the “Last Mile” of Disease Elimination
In our programs to eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), we support mapping studies
using a variety of surveillance technologies to understand prevalence levels within populations. These studies help track progress in reaching elimination goals and inform programmatic decisions about when mass treatment can be stopped. We also design and test novel transmission assessment surveys that can identify lower NTD prevalence levels than can be detected with conventional methods. Looking ahead, we are working with partners to deploy integrated surveillance approaches using multiplex assays for detecting the prevalence of multiple pathogens within populations. This technology is expected to vastly improve understanding of the health profiles of communities in developing countries where NTDs are endemic.Logging Disease Surveillance Information
Our expertise in health information systems has been critical to understanding the causes of
childhood mortality in developing countries and strengthening U.S. public health’s ability to
detect disease outbreaks. We have developed a sophisticated information system to manage
data collected about childhood deaths in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
This system will be a vital tool for supporting surveillance of disease outbreaks that can
threaten the health and lives of children in these countries. Finally, in the United States, we are
working with the nation’s largest health systems and U.S. public health to implement a single
standard for exchanging electronic information about cases of reportable infectious diseases.
When fully implemented, this standard will help ensure public health agencies have access to
timely information about potential disease outbreaks in communities.Results
18 Programs
Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETPs) Accredited Since 2016
22,000+ Disease Detectives
Trained by Member FETPs
3,000+ Surveillance Systems
Surveillance Systems Established since 1997
73 Member Programs
Member Field Epidemiology Training Programs
Our Experts
Malembe Sandrine Ebama
Director, Strengthening Outbreak Notification And Response (SONAR) InitiativeResources
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Information Systems
-
As the world continues to expand into the digital age, health systems must utilize robust Information Systems to allow health information to be shared with necessary stakeholders. Whether its being able to inform the necessary officials about an infectious disease outbreak or helping a country track and develop its healthcare workforce, The Task Force works with partners, governments and health sectors to address public health information challenges as an integral piece of building stronger health systems.
Accordion Content
Health systems at all levels utilize information systems to manage patient records, gather and analyze health data, and make healthcare facilities more effective in improving the health of a population. However, across health systems, these information systems can have a plethora of issues. They often need to evolve or adapt to keep up with scientific progress and changing environments of the population and this can be as simple as moving from a paper-based system to a digital system while still connecting with other information systems. Or a necessary information system may need to be developed from scratch. Poor or non-existent information systems can lead to miscommunication and duplicative work, unprovided health services, severe declines in a population’s health, and deadly disease outbreaks.
At The Task Force, we seek to help populations address public health challenges by providing them with the information and knowledge necessary to help make informed decisions to improve the health of all people. We utilize the expertise of “informaticians” and health professionals to advise entities on complex data issues.
Informatics Consultants
Born out of the All Kids Count project that helped develop immunization registries which are some of the first widely implemented public health information systems ever, our Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) assists public health organizations in defining and leveraging the power of information systems to meet public health needs. PHII uses a strategic approach to help its partners and clients use their information effectively and advance their population health goals. Throughout their various projects, PHII uses applied information science to design blueprints for complex data systems in order to keep information secure, usable and responsive to the user’s needs. Domestically, they have helped health departments set up immunization registries, and through the Digital Bridge initiative, they have piloted the project to connect infectious disease reporting systems so that healthcare providers and public health officials can receive real time information at the beginning of a disease outbreak. Information systems are only as effective as the information put in and the users using them. This is why PHII also set up the Informatics Academy which provides workforce development for utilizing information systems.
Strengthening Health Workforce Development
Through the Informatics Academy offers a range of courses that build informatics capacity across foundational areas in U.S. public health departments and global public health practice. It relies on a network of seasoned subject matter experts to build new curriculum. PHII also works with public health organizations and departments to improve workforce allocation, identify gaps, and fill them.
Our Experts
Vivian Singletary, JM, MBA
Director, Public Health Informatics InstituteResources
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Medicines, Medical Equipment & Supplies
-
Essential Medicines, Medical Equipment & Supplies are necessary to help save and improve lives. The Task Force coordinates through sophisticated supply chains, system development, and accreditation processes access to medicines, medical equipment and supplies to communities who cannot access them.
Accordion Content
The Challenge
To help eliminate diseases, it often takes expensive and sophisticated medicine to help prevent and control diseases so that transmission can be stopped and the disease permanently wiped out. However, particularly for diseases that affect the poorest and most vulnerable populations in the world, these medicines are not easily accessible, and without a concerted effort and collaboration between many systems, they would never make it to these populations.
Our Approach
Because of the generosity of pharmaceutical companies, many neglected tropical disease (NTDs) elimination campaigns are made possible around the world. In our work to eliminate NTDs, we manage some of the largest and most complex of these drug donation programs, working with all points along the supply chain to ensure that medicines make it into mouths safely during mass drug administrations in endemic communities. Through expert committees (Trachoma Expert Committee and the Mectizan® Expert Committee), we help evaluate country applications for these medicines and then coordinate production with our pharmaceutical partners to ensure timely delivery without incident. We also develop sophisticated monitoring and evaluation systems such as the Zithromax® Shipment Tracker to ensure transparency in the supply chain.
Our expertise in managing drug donation programs has helped foster collaborative solutions to supply chain challenges facing the humanitarian sector. We participate in the NTD Supply Chain Forum, a unique public-private partnership that focuses on increasing efficiencies and lowering costs in the delivery of preventive chemotherapy medicines to more than 70 countries for the control and elimination of NTDs.
Check out our Children Without Worms, International Trachoma Initiative and Mectizan® Donation Program to learn more about supply chain procedures for drug donations.
Results
3.6 Billion Drugs Delivered
By Our Mectizan® Donation Program Since 1987
Our Experts
Carla Johnson
Supply Chain Manager, International Trachoma InitiativeResources
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Migrant Health
-
The Migration Health Initiative (MHI), a partnership with the National Resource Center for
Refugees, Immigrants, and Migrants (NRC-RIM), seeks to protect the health of globally mobile populations.The Migration Health Initiative (MHI), a partnership with the National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants, and Migrants (NRC-RIM), seeks to protect the health of globally mobile populations.
MHI works with partners to support the health of people experiencing migration, with an initial focus on ensuring that refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities within the United States have access to hepatitis B vaccines.
MHI will lean on the expertise of NRC-RIM, which has developed a robust portfolio that supports health departments and community organizations in their public health response in refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities
The Task Force and NRC-RIM have long-standing partnerships with community-based organizations, resettlement agencies, and others in 150+ countries that will be crucial to their continued success.
BackgroundWho We ServeStrategic PartnersHepatitis BBackgroundAccording to the UN Migration Agency, there are more than 280 million people who are living in countries other than their place of birth. This population includes people representing many cultures, languages, regions of the world, as well as motivations for migration.
People who experience migration disproportionately experience poor health outcomes. Despite the barriers they face, these communities also have incredible strengths:
- Strong sense of community and dedication to family
- Resilience
- Language talents
- Multi-generational households
- Trusted messengers
A guiding principle of our work is that solutions should be developed in genuine partnership with affected communities. These strengths allow communities to overcome health challenges and influence systems to serve them better.
Who We Serve
Collaboration and partnerships are central to MHI’s approach; rather than working directly in communities, MHI focuses on influencing the systems that serve them. Its resources and services support the success of health departments, community-based organizations, governmental agencies, NGOs, and colleagues at other TFGH programs who support people who experienced migration.Strategic Partners
The Task Force is partnering with the National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants, and Migrants (NRC-RIM) to launch MHI. NRC-RIM, a project within the University of Minnesota’s Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility (CGHSR), was established in 2020 as part of the nation’s COVID-19 response.Since 2020, NRC-RIM has developed a robust portfolio that supports supports health departments and community organizations in their public health response in refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities.
NRC-RIM has grown from an innovative idea to an organization nationally known for excellence in public health preparedness and response, and in fostering partnerships that make a real difference in communities. Learn more at nrcrim.org.
Hepatitis B
The initial project will leverage existing work by NRC-RIM and The Task Force’s Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination (CGHE). The Task Force’s CGHE program works to eliminate viral hepatitis by strengthening the capacity of elimination programs around the world through technical assistance, knowledge generation, and advocacy among partners.
Hepatitis B is a vaccine-preventable infection, and for those already infected a cause of premature deaths from liver cancer.
Key Contacts
Erin Salvaggio, MPH
Project Manager
esalvaggio@taskforce.orgOur Experts
Erin Mann, MPH
Co-Principal Investigator and Program Manager, NRC-RIM
mann0255@umn.eduWilliam Stauffer, MD, MSPH, FASTMH
Co-Principal Investigator, NRC-RIM
stauf005@umn.eduSyreeta Wilkins, MA
Public Health Advisor, NRC-RIM
slw@umn.edu -
Operational Research
-
Operational Research helps public health programs identify challenges and issues and find solutions. It helps public health practitioners make better decisions so that programs that seek to improve the public’s health are more efficient and effective in meeting their goals (i.e., to eliminate diseases).
Accordion Content
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set out ambitious goals for the control and elimination of certain diseases, and public health programs throughout the world are working to meet those goals. When those programs run into challenges – such as getting disease-preventing medicines to all at-risk members of a population or tracking vaccination records across state lines – operational research can help formulate solutions. These, in turn, often inform policy, which is applied to other settings. Thus, operational research becomes an effective way for public health programs to address these challenges and find solutions to help improve public health programs.
We support various operational research projects with various organizations, clinics, and communities through our Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center (NTD-SC) and our Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) to help improve effectiveness and processes of public health programs around the world. NTD-SC was developed to utilize operational research as a tool for helping to eliminate and control neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). The program helps to prioritize the research agenda and coordinate research initiatives. PHII analyzes business process and conducts research on clinical and laboratory settings to identify ways to improve processes in order for those facilities to provide better care for their communities.
Coordinating Operational Research on NTDs Around the World
Through support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID, our NTD-SC provides guidance for and oversees numerous operational research projects around the world that focus on addressing priority research needs for the NTD community to progress in elimination and control efforts. Its research, led by in-country partners, focuses on “overcoming obstacles to program implementation,” “refining endgame strategies for NTD elimination,” and “ensuring sustainability of program achievements.” Aligning the needs of NTD programs and research priorities, the NTD community can more effectively solve challenges that are impeding the ability to reach at-risk communities and implement sustainable interventions.
To enhance this alignment of research goals, NTD-SC started the Coalition for Operational Research on NTDs (COR-NTD). COR-NTD is a group of researchers, program implementers, and their in-country partners that have the shared goal of optimizing control and elimination of NTDs. The group convenes annually for a meeting that seeks to develop the research agenda for the upcoming year that will best address the needs of the NTD community. The goal of the coalition is to create new synergies within the operational research sector for NTDs and align that research with specific program needs. COR-NTD also provides a platform where operational needs can be defined, research can be collaborated on, and technical challenges addressed. For those interested in attending the yearly meeting and being apart of the Coalition click here.
Building Sustainable Research Capacity in-country
NTD-SC also oversees the African Small Grants program which seeks to increase research capacity in African countries. Through funding from USAID in collaboration with the African Research Network on Neglected Tropical Diseases, NTD-SC helps coordinate operational research projects proposed by African researchers on NTDs to help build research equity in public health throughout the continent.
Business Process Analysis
With the support of implementing partners and funders, PHII, through its Requirements Lab, strengthens health systems by helping health agencies and facilities identify process gaps and weaknesses in their business practices. A Collaborative Requirements Development Methodology (CRDM) approach is used to help clients clearly document work processes, identify areas of improvement, and define the requirements that outline how information systems should support their work so that ultimately they can provide better health services and protection to their communities. This collaborative approach helps public health practitioners and agencies identify areas of similarity, best practices, and intersection so that lessons learned in one scenario can help inform another.
Results
208 Projects have been facilitated by NTD-SC and their partners
122 Projects Relating to Lymphatic Filariasis
56 Projects Relating to Onchocerciasis
31 Projects Relating to Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis
34 Projects Relating to Trachoma
21 Projects Relating to Loiasis
11 Projects Relating to Other Neglected Tropical Diseases
Our Experts
Pat Lammie, PhD
Director, Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center
Katie Gass, PhD
Director of Research, Neglected Tropical Diseases Support CenterResources
At The Task Force, we have real impact by solving massive health problems. We work with partners to eliminate diseases that have plagued humanity for centuries and protect the health of populations by helping countries build strong health systems, so that in the end, all people can realize their right to living a healthy life. Our programs make an impact in the following areas:
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Outbreak Response
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When cases of an infectious disease are diagnosed in a specific area, an Outbreak Response is triggered to stop the spread of an infectious disease swiftly, keeping as few people as possible from being infected. The Task Force works with ministries of health and organizations to help ensure that countries and the world are ready to stop the next outbreak by training disease detectives, mobilizing skilled response teams, and supporting disease detection efforts.
Accordion Content
In this closely connected world where an infectious disease could spread far and wide within a matter of days, the need to respond quickly has never been greater. The COVID-19 Pandemic has been a somber reminder that many of the health systems protecting populations’ health around the world are not strong enough or prepared to react and respond quickly and effectively to a disease outbreak. As deadly outbreaks like the Ebola crisis in Western Africa have proven, diseases know no borders so all health systems must have the ability to respond if the outbreak is going to be stopped with as few casualties as possible. This requires having outbreak response plans in place at national, provincial, and community-levels, including a skilled network of disease detectives who can mobilize quickly to identify where the infection originated and how far it has spread. Until all health systems are backed up with strong emergency and disease outbreak response plans, all people are vulnerable to any infectious disease outbreak.
The Task Force supports outbreak response through our polio activities, our Public Health Informatics Institute and our Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions Network (TEPHINET).
Developing a Cadre of Field Epidemiologists
TEPHINET’s mission is to empower and mobilize a competent field epidemiology workforce or disease detectives for all people through standardized training, experiential learning, training program quality improvement, mentoring, and knowledge exchanges in order to connect epidemiologists better and faster across the globe. Through our support of Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETPs) around the world, TEPHINET helps build a cadre of field epidemiologists who are pivotal to the frontline of defense during a disease outbreak. In order to ensure program quality across regions and help countries produce highly qualified epidemiologists, TEPHINET has developed an FETP accreditation process.
During COVID-19, this cadre of field epidemiologists have been essential to countries’ local, national, and regional response to fight the pandemic. Learn more.
Connecting the Epidemiology Alumni Network
Due to how unprepared the world was during the Ebola outbreak in 2014 and the Zika outbreak in 2016, a key issue that was identified during those outbreaks was how the global community was unable to quickly mobilize qualified epidemiologists and disease specialists who could help coordinate a response to address the outbreak. As a solution, TEPHINET launched TEPHIConnect, a global online networking platform built exclusively for field epidemiology training program (FETP) alumni, in 2017. TEPHIConnect has more than 1,600 active users — more than ten percent of the global FETP alumni community — from 96 countries. Working as a social networking tool, it is a forum for FETP alumni to share their work, collaborate with other experts, and maintain situational awareness. The platform helps leverage rapid response teams from around the world to a specific infectious disease outbreak when it occurs. For example, 112 FETP alumni have responded to a call to support the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during the 2018 to present Ebola outbreak. Once TEPHIConnect members are identified for a specific outbreak, they are deployed through the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Alert and Response Network (GOARN). The platform can also be used as a FETP trainee tracking and outreach tool for FETPs. regional FETPs, and the global FETP network. TEPHIConnect was developed in partnership with the WHO and other global organizations.
Supporting Diseases Detection
Besides our efforts to strengthen disease surveillance in-country, TEPHINET manages projects in developing countries that help strengthen their health system. The key areas that they focus on that support outbreak response are:
- Infectious diseases detection, prevention and elimination which supports projects like Influenza Surveillance and Training in Central Asia,
- Outbreak response and preparedness mobilization which includes Improving Public Health Emergency Management Capacity and Coordination, and
- Strengthening public health infrastructure which includes projects like Regional Lab Strategy for Zika in Central American and the Caribbean.
These various projects help countries address specific regional and country-based needs that ultimately lead to stronger protection of their populations in disease emergencies.
Supporting the “Last Mile” of Polio Eradication
With polio zeroing in on eradication, responding to every outbreak quickly is essential in order to contain the virus. Containment of eradicated polioviruses is a key objective of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) Polio Endgame Strategy 2019-2023 and will be critical for maintaining the global polio-free status. Our Poliovirus Containment work includes biosafety and biosecurity requirements for laboratories, vaccine production sites, or any other facility that handles or stores eradicated polioviruses, to minimize the risk of these viruses being released into the community.
Our Polio Eradication Surge Capacity Support is a team of polio experts in partnership with GPEI who have the nimble ability to respond quickly to new polio cases. The time element is critical since an investigation must be initiated within 24 hours after a case has been detected, with a rapid response team deployed within 72 hours and a vaccination campaign to follow within 14 days. The Surge team will play a critical role in the “last mile” of polio eradication.
E-Outbreak Reporting
Even in a highly developed country like the United States, the process for reporting an outbreak is not sophisticated or even electronic and the majority of the time, health departments were not immediately made aware of the diagnosis of an infectious disease case. Thus, our Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) catalyzed a pilot project called Digital Bridge with the support of various funders and partners to create a digital process that was immediately initiated when a health care provider diagnosed an infectious disease. Previously these cases were reported by paper and sent to the relevant health departments, resulting in a slow and highly problematic response. However, with the use of Digital Bridge, health care providers could electronically document an infectious diseases incident and notify the necessary health departments while the patient was still in the doctor’s office. The goal is for this system to be implemented throughout all health facilities across the country.
Results
7,600+ Outbreak Investigations
Conducted by TEPHINET-member FETP graduates between 1997-2018
13 Field Epidemiology Training Programs
Accredited by TEPHINET since 2016
96 Countries
Represented by TEPHIConnect Members Trained in Outbreak Response Efforts
Programs
Our Experts
Carl Reddy
Director, Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions NetworkResources
Disease Surveillance helps countries assess the health of their populations in order for them to identify what diseases are affecting their communities and the prevalence of specific diseases for elimination efforts. At The Task Force, a number of our programs work with countries to provide effective field-based tools and strategies for disease surveillance and ensuring that the country has sustainable capacity to conduct ongoing disease surveillance.
Accordion Content
Public health programs targeting infectious diseases require sophisticated systems for monitoring changes in health status within populations. These systems include trained frontline health workers who can recognize disease outbreaks, diagnostic technologies that can identify infections, and health information systems to manage data.
As COVID-19 demonstrated, countries around the world lack robust disease surveillance systems. This can be due to insufficient resources, inadequate public health capacity, and outdated or poor health information systems. As a result, populations are at greater risk of disease outbreaks that can spread uncontrollably, leading to deadly epidemics and pandemics like Ebola and COVID-19.
With our partners, we support a range of public health activities to help countries build the public health capacity needed for strong disease surveillance.
To strengthen these systems for the next emergency, The Task Force, in collaboration with Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and World Health Organization (WHO) – is working as the implementing partner for The Global Fund’s SONAR (Strengthening Outbreak Notification And Response) program. Through SONAR, The Task Force provides technical assistance to low- and middle- income partner countries to strengthen their efforts to establish comprehensive, coordinated surveillance systems capable of detecting emerging outbreaks, tracking the course of pathogens through the community, linking laboratory and epidemiological data from the same cases, while making the data accessible in a form readily understandable by decision makers.
Supporting Surveillance Projects
The Global Fund has tapped TFGH as its implementing partner for SONAR because of the diverse expertise from various programs at TFGH, including PIVI and PHII. SONAR aims to enhance early warning surveillance in low- and middle-income countries by:
- Implement early warning surveillance and epidemic intelligence systems to shorten time to detection and reporting of and response to outbreaks.
- Increase interconnectivity between laboratory and epidemiologic data systems, including health facility and community level event reporting.
- Improve accessibility and use of data for response.
TEPHINET manages projects in developing countries that help strengthen their disease surveillance in the following areas:
- Public health applied research and surveillance which includes projects like Evaluating and Enhancing Maternal and Prenatal Death Surveillance and Response,
- Strengthening field epidemiology training programs which includes projects like Developing a FETP Cancer Curriculum,
- Strengthening public health infrastructure which includes projects like Innovative and Sustainable Global Laboratory Training and Efficiency Enhancement, and
- Non-communicable disease detection, prevention, and elimination which includes projects like Advancing Birth Defects Count.
These projects help regions and countries improve their disease surveillance efforts ultimately strengthening their health system.
Surveying the “Last Mile” of Disease Elimination
In our programs to eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), we support mapping studies
using a variety of surveillance technologies to understand prevalence levels within populations. These studies help track progress in reaching elimination goals and inform programmatic decisions about when mass treatment can be stopped. We also design and test novel transmission assessment surveys that can identify lower NTD prevalence levels than can be detected with conventional methods. Looking ahead, we are working with partners to deploy integrated surveillance approaches using multiplex assays for detecting the prevalence of multiple pathogens within populations. This technology is expected to vastly improve understanding of the health profiles of communities in developing countries where NTDs are endemic.
Logging Disease Surveillance Information
Our expertise in health information systems has been critical to understanding the causes of
childhood mortality in developing countries and strengthening U.S. public health’s ability to
detect disease outbreaks. We have developed a sophisticated information system to manage
data collected about childhood deaths in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
This system will be a vital tool for supporting surveillance of disease outbreaks that can
threaten the health and lives of children in these countries. Finally, in the United States, we are
working with the nation’s largest health systems and U.S. public health to implement a single
standard for exchanging electronic information about cases of reportable infectious diseases.
When fully implemented, this standard will help ensure public health agencies have access to
timely information about potential disease outbreaks in communities.
Results
18 Programs
Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETPs) Accredited Since 2016
22,000+ Disease Detectives
Trained by Member FETPs
3,000+ Surveillance Systems
Surveillance Systems Established since 1997
73 Member Programs
Member Field Epidemiology Training Programs
Our Experts
Malembe Sandrine Ebama
Resources
Accordion Content
Health systems at all levels utilize information systems to manage patient records, gather and analyze health data, and make healthcare facilities more effective in improving the health of a population. However, across health systems, these information systems can have a plethora of issues. They often need to evolve or adapt to keep up with scientific progress and changing environments of the population and this can be as simple as moving from a paper-based system to a digital system while still connecting with other information systems. Or a necessary information system may need to be developed from scratch. Poor or non-existent information systems can lead to miscommunication and duplicative work, unprovided health services, severe declines in a population’s health, and deadly disease outbreaks.
At The Task Force, we seek to help populations address public health challenges by providing them with the information and knowledge necessary to help make informed decisions to improve the health of all people. We utilize the expertise of “informaticians” and health professionals to advise entities on complex data issues.
Informatics Consultants
Born out of the All Kids Count project that helped develop immunization registries which are some of the first widely implemented public health information systems ever, our Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) assists public health organizations in defining and leveraging the power of information systems to meet public health needs. PHII uses a strategic approach to help its partners and clients use their information effectively and advance their population health goals. Throughout their various projects, PHII uses applied information science to design blueprints for complex data systems in order to keep information secure, usable and responsive to the user’s needs. Domestically, they have helped health departments set up immunization registries, and through the Digital Bridge initiative, they have piloted the project to connect infectious disease reporting systems so that healthcare providers and public health officials can receive real time information at the beginning of a disease outbreak. Information systems are only as effective as the information put in and the users using them. This is why PHII also set up the Informatics Academy which provides workforce development for utilizing information systems.
Strengthening Health Workforce Development
Through the Informatics Academy offers a range of courses that build informatics capacity across foundational areas in U.S. public health departments and global public health practice. It relies on a network of seasoned subject matter experts to build new curriculum. PHII also works with public health organizations and departments to improve workforce allocation, identify gaps, and fill them.
Our Experts
Vivian Singletary, JM, MBA
Resources
Accordion Content
The Challenge
To help eliminate diseases, it often takes expensive and sophisticated medicine to help prevent and control diseases so that transmission can be stopped and the disease permanently wiped out. However, particularly for diseases that affect the poorest and most vulnerable populations in the world, these medicines are not easily accessible, and without a concerted effort and collaboration between many systems, they would never make it to these populations.
Our Approach
Because of the generosity of pharmaceutical companies, many neglected tropical disease (NTDs) elimination campaigns are made possible around the world. In our work to eliminate NTDs, we manage some of the largest and most complex of these drug donation programs, working with all points along the supply chain to ensure that medicines make it into mouths safely during mass drug administrations in endemic communities. Through expert committees (Trachoma Expert Committee and the Mectizan® Expert Committee), we help evaluate country applications for these medicines and then coordinate production with our pharmaceutical partners to ensure timely delivery without incident. We also develop sophisticated monitoring and evaluation systems such as the Zithromax® Shipment Tracker to ensure transparency in the supply chain.
Our expertise in managing drug donation programs has helped foster collaborative solutions to supply chain challenges facing the humanitarian sector. We participate in the NTD Supply Chain Forum, a unique public-private partnership that focuses on increasing efficiencies and lowering costs in the delivery of preventive chemotherapy medicines to more than 70 countries for the control and elimination of NTDs.
Check out our Children Without Worms, International Trachoma Initiative and Mectizan® Donation Program to learn more about supply chain procedures for drug donations.
Results
3.6 Billion Drugs Delivered
By Our Mectizan® Donation Program Since 1987
Our Experts
Carla Johnson
Resources
The Migration Health Initiative (MHI), a partnership with the National Resource Center for
Refugees, Immigrants, and Migrants (NRC-RIM), seeks to protect the health of globally mobile populations.
The Migration Health Initiative (MHI), a partnership with the National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants, and Migrants (NRC-RIM), seeks to protect the health of globally mobile populations.
MHI works with partners to support the health of people experiencing migration, with an initial focus on ensuring that refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities within the United States have access to hepatitis B vaccines.
MHI will lean on the expertise of NRC-RIM, which has developed a robust portfolio that supports health departments and community organizations in their public health response in refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities
The Task Force and NRC-RIM have long-standing partnerships with community-based organizations, resettlement agencies, and others in 150+ countries that will be crucial to their continued success.
According to the UN Migration Agency, there are more than 280 million people who are living in countries other than their place of birth. This population includes people representing many cultures, languages, regions of the world, as well as motivations for migration.
People who experience migration disproportionately experience poor health outcomes. Despite the barriers they face, these communities also have incredible strengths:
- Strong sense of community and dedication to family
- Resilience
- Language talents
- Multi-generational households
- Trusted messengers
A guiding principle of our work is that solutions should be developed in genuine partnership with affected communities. These strengths allow communities to overcome health challenges and influence systems to serve them better.
Collaboration and partnerships are central to MHI’s approach; rather than working directly in communities, MHI focuses on influencing the systems that serve them. Its resources and services support the success of health departments, community-based organizations, governmental agencies, NGOs, and colleagues at other TFGH programs who support people who experienced migration.
The Task Force is partnering with the National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants, and Migrants (NRC-RIM) to launch MHI. NRC-RIM, a project within the University of Minnesota’s Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility (CGHSR), was established in 2020 as part of the nation’s COVID-19 response.
Since 2020, NRC-RIM has developed a robust portfolio that supports supports health departments and community organizations in their public health response in refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities.
NRC-RIM has grown from an innovative idea to an organization nationally known for excellence in public health preparedness and response, and in fostering partnerships that make a real difference in communities. Learn more at nrcrim.org.
The initial project will leverage existing work by NRC-RIM and The Task Force’s Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination (CGHE).
The Task Force’s CGHE program works to eliminate viral hepatitis by strengthening the capacity of elimination programs around the world through technical assistance, knowledge generation, and advocacy among partners.
Hepatitis B is a vaccine-preventable infection, and for those already infected a cause of premature deaths from liver cancer.
Key Contacts
Erin Salvaggio, MPH
Project Manager
esalvaggio@taskforce.org
Our Experts
Erin Mann, MPH
Co-Principal Investigator and Program Manager, NRC-RIM
mann0255@umn.edu
William Stauffer, MD, MSPH, FASTMH
Co-Principal Investigator, NRC-RIM
stauf005@umn.edu
Syreeta Wilkins, MA
Public Health Advisor, NRC-RIM
slw@umn.edu
Operational Research helps public health programs identify challenges and issues and find solutions. It helps public health practitioners make better decisions so that programs that seek to improve the public’s health are more efficient and effective in meeting their goals (i.e., to eliminate diseases).
Accordion Content
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set out ambitious goals for the control and elimination of certain diseases, and public health programs throughout the world are working to meet those goals. When those programs run into challenges – such as getting disease-preventing medicines to all at-risk members of a population or tracking vaccination records across state lines – operational research can help formulate solutions. These, in turn, often inform policy, which is applied to other settings. Thus, operational research becomes an effective way for public health programs to address these challenges and find solutions to help improve public health programs.
We support various operational research projects with various organizations, clinics, and communities through our Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center (NTD-SC) and our Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) to help improve effectiveness and processes of public health programs around the world. NTD-SC was developed to utilize operational research as a tool for helping to eliminate and control neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). The program helps to prioritize the research agenda and coordinate research initiatives. PHII analyzes business process and conducts research on clinical and laboratory settings to identify ways to improve processes in order for those facilities to provide better care for their communities.
Coordinating Operational Research on NTDs Around the World
Through support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID, our NTD-SC provides guidance for and oversees numerous operational research projects around the world that focus on addressing priority research needs for the NTD community to progress in elimination and control efforts. Its research, led by in-country partners, focuses on “overcoming obstacles to program implementation,” “refining endgame strategies for NTD elimination,” and “ensuring sustainability of program achievements.” Aligning the needs of NTD programs and research priorities, the NTD community can more effectively solve challenges that are impeding the ability to reach at-risk communities and implement sustainable interventions.
To enhance this alignment of research goals, NTD-SC started the Coalition for Operational Research on NTDs (COR-NTD). COR-NTD is a group of researchers, program implementers, and their in-country partners that have the shared goal of optimizing control and elimination of NTDs. The group convenes annually for a meeting that seeks to develop the research agenda for the upcoming year that will best address the needs of the NTD community. The goal of the coalition is to create new synergies within the operational research sector for NTDs and align that research with specific program needs. COR-NTD also provides a platform where operational needs can be defined, research can be collaborated on, and technical challenges addressed. For those interested in attending the yearly meeting and being apart of the Coalition click here.
Building Sustainable Research Capacity in-country
NTD-SC also oversees the African Small Grants program which seeks to increase research capacity in African countries. Through funding from USAID in collaboration with the African Research Network on Neglected Tropical Diseases, NTD-SC helps coordinate operational research projects proposed by African researchers on NTDs to help build research equity in public health throughout the continent.
Business Process Analysis
With the support of implementing partners and funders, PHII, through its Requirements Lab, strengthens health systems by helping health agencies and facilities identify process gaps and weaknesses in their business practices. A Collaborative Requirements Development Methodology (CRDM) approach is used to help clients clearly document work processes, identify areas of improvement, and define the requirements that outline how information systems should support their work so that ultimately they can provide better health services and protection to their communities. This collaborative approach helps public health practitioners and agencies identify areas of similarity, best practices, and intersection so that lessons learned in one scenario can help inform another.
Results
208 Projects have been facilitated by NTD-SC and their partners
122 Projects Relating to Lymphatic Filariasis
56 Projects Relating to Onchocerciasis
31 Projects Relating to Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis
34 Projects Relating to Trachoma
21 Projects Relating to Loiasis
11 Projects Relating to Other Neglected Tropical Diseases
Our Experts
Pat Lammie, PhD
Katie Gass, PhD
Resources
At The Task Force, we have real impact by solving massive health problems. We work with partners to eliminate diseases that have plagued humanity for centuries and protect the health of populations by helping countries build strong health systems, so that in the end, all people can realize their right to living a healthy life. Our programs make an impact in the following areas:
When cases of an infectious disease are diagnosed in a specific area, an Outbreak Response is triggered to stop the spread of an infectious disease swiftly, keeping as few people as possible from being infected. The Task Force works with ministries of health and organizations to help ensure that countries and the world are ready to stop the next outbreak by training disease detectives, mobilizing skilled response teams, and supporting disease detection efforts.
Accordion Content
In this closely connected world where an infectious disease could spread far and wide within a matter of days, the need to respond quickly has never been greater. The COVID-19 Pandemic has been a somber reminder that many of the health systems protecting populations’ health around the world are not strong enough or prepared to react and respond quickly and effectively to a disease outbreak. As deadly outbreaks like the Ebola crisis in Western Africa have proven, diseases know no borders so all health systems must have the ability to respond if the outbreak is going to be stopped with as few casualties as possible. This requires having outbreak response plans in place at national, provincial, and community-levels, including a skilled network of disease detectives who can mobilize quickly to identify where the infection originated and how far it has spread. Until all health systems are backed up with strong emergency and disease outbreak response plans, all people are vulnerable to any infectious disease outbreak.
The Task Force supports outbreak response through our polio activities, our Public Health Informatics Institute and our Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions Network (TEPHINET).
Developing a Cadre of Field Epidemiologists
TEPHINET’s mission is to empower and mobilize a competent field epidemiology workforce or disease detectives for all people through standardized training, experiential learning, training program quality improvement, mentoring, and knowledge exchanges in order to connect epidemiologists better and faster across the globe. Through our support of Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETPs) around the world, TEPHINET helps build a cadre of field epidemiologists who are pivotal to the frontline of defense during a disease outbreak. In order to ensure program quality across regions and help countries produce highly qualified epidemiologists, TEPHINET has developed an FETP accreditation process.
During COVID-19, this cadre of field epidemiologists have been essential to countries’ local, national, and regional response to fight the pandemic. Learn more.
Connecting the Epidemiology Alumni Network
Due to how unprepared the world was during the Ebola outbreak in 2014 and the Zika outbreak in 2016, a key issue that was identified during those outbreaks was how the global community was unable to quickly mobilize qualified epidemiologists and disease specialists who could help coordinate a response to address the outbreak. As a solution, TEPHINET launched TEPHIConnect, a global online networking platform built exclusively for field epidemiology training program (FETP) alumni, in 2017. TEPHIConnect has more than 1,600 active users — more than ten percent of the global FETP alumni community — from 96 countries. Working as a social networking tool, it is a forum for FETP alumni to share their work, collaborate with other experts, and maintain situational awareness. The platform helps leverage rapid response teams from around the world to a specific infectious disease outbreak when it occurs. For example, 112 FETP alumni have responded to a call to support the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during the 2018 to present Ebola outbreak. Once TEPHIConnect members are identified for a specific outbreak, they are deployed through the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Alert and Response Network (GOARN). The platform can also be used as a FETP trainee tracking and outreach tool for FETPs. regional FETPs, and the global FETP network. TEPHIConnect was developed in partnership with the WHO and other global organizations.
Supporting Diseases Detection
Besides our efforts to strengthen disease surveillance in-country, TEPHINET manages projects in developing countries that help strengthen their health system. The key areas that they focus on that support outbreak response are:
- Infectious diseases detection, prevention and elimination which supports projects like Influenza Surveillance and Training in Central Asia,
- Outbreak response and preparedness mobilization which includes Improving Public Health Emergency Management Capacity and Coordination, and
- Strengthening public health infrastructure which includes projects like Regional Lab Strategy for Zika in Central American and the Caribbean.
These various projects help countries address specific regional and country-based needs that ultimately lead to stronger protection of their populations in disease emergencies.
Supporting the “Last Mile” of Polio Eradication
With polio zeroing in on eradication, responding to every outbreak quickly is essential in order to contain the virus. Containment of eradicated polioviruses is a key objective of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) Polio Endgame Strategy 2019-2023 and will be critical for maintaining the global polio-free status. Our Poliovirus Containment work includes biosafety and biosecurity requirements for laboratories, vaccine production sites, or any other facility that handles or stores eradicated polioviruses, to minimize the risk of these viruses being released into the community.
Our Polio Eradication Surge Capacity Support is a team of polio experts in partnership with GPEI who have the nimble ability to respond quickly to new polio cases. The time element is critical since an investigation must be initiated within 24 hours after a case has been detected, with a rapid response team deployed within 72 hours and a vaccination campaign to follow within 14 days. The Surge team will play a critical role in the “last mile” of polio eradication.
E-Outbreak Reporting
Even in a highly developed country like the United States, the process for reporting an outbreak is not sophisticated or even electronic and the majority of the time, health departments were not immediately made aware of the diagnosis of an infectious disease case. Thus, our Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) catalyzed a pilot project called Digital Bridge with the support of various funders and partners to create a digital process that was immediately initiated when a health care provider diagnosed an infectious disease. Previously these cases were reported by paper and sent to the relevant health departments, resulting in a slow and highly problematic response. However, with the use of Digital Bridge, health care providers could electronically document an infectious diseases incident and notify the necessary health departments while the patient was still in the doctor’s office. The goal is for this system to be implemented throughout all health facilities across the country.
Results
7,600+ Outbreak Investigations
Conducted by TEPHINET-member FETP graduates between 1997-2018
13 Field Epidemiology Training Programs
Accredited by TEPHINET since 2016
96 Countries
Represented by TEPHIConnect Members Trained in Outbreak Response Efforts
Programs
Our Experts
Carl Reddy
Resources
How We Do It
Coalitions and partnerships are at the heart of everything The Task Force does. We bring together the foremost public health experts and organizations in the world, forging strong coalitions dedicated to solving some of humanity’s most vexing health challenges. We build partnerships with countries and allied organizations across the globe to help strengthen health systems that protect people and keep diseases at bay. Before our founding, this collaborative method was proven to work when it was used for smallpox eradication, the only human disease to be permanently wiped off the face of the earth. Our founder, Dr. Bill Foege — a leader in the smallpox eradication effort — instilled the lessons learned from the smallpox eradication program into our organization’s DNA. To this day, we use and seek to continuously improve the collaborative methods and principles developed by Dr. Foege, applying them to an ever-broader set of diseases and health challenges.
Through our programs, we manage or serve as the secretariat for 12 coalitions, committees, networks, and partnerships, involving more than 200 organizations. Though we are an enormously impactful organization, we never forget that our reach and global health impact is ultimately due to the tremendous work of our coalitions and implementing partners in countries throughout the world. We make a special point, therefore, to shine light on the successes of our coalition partners. Partly for that reason, global health leaders and organizations seek us out to serve as a trusted convener. We have a history of working collaboratively and faithfully with a great variety of partners, such that The Task Force has now been a trusted global health problem-solver for more than three decades.
The Task Force also mobilizes innovative technologies and develops and applies scientific advances to improve global health. Partnering with scientists and inventors, we help identify new, cost-effective laboratory and technological developments and tools that could be applied to real-life health challenges in some of the most remote and economically disadvantaged communities. Whether it is implementing diagnostic tools that are usable outside of laboratories, combining drug therapies, or developing sophisticated laboratory and information technologies that are proven to accelerate disease elimination, we are helping to increase the effectiveness of the health systems in low- to middle- income countries.
There’s a good reason we are called The Task Force, a term used for a group organized to achieve a specific objective. Whatever the health problem, we approach the challenge first by working with our partners to clearly define what it means to succeed.
As Dr. Foege suggested of childhood immunization (our organization’s first ‘task’): Working toward improving childhood immunization levels was not specific enough. Collectively agreeing on a target of 80 percent coverage worldwide helped bring the final mile into view, motivating action and providing a metric for progress.
Sometimes, as in the case of polio, complete and final disease eradication is the final mile. In other cases, as with trachoma, elimination of the disease as a public health problem is the goal (i.e., reducing prevalence to the point that sporadic cases can be handled through regular clinical care systems). For health systems strengthening programs, the final mile is reached when every country has a demonstrably effective, sustainable capacity for a key public health function (e.g., for disease outbreak detection and control).
For all of our programs, this ‘final mile’ orientation has proven to be a key element in inspiring and unifying coalition partners. It helps all involved in a given effort to visualize what they are trying to achieve, develop plans for making and measuring progress, and mobilize and deploy their respective resources to reach their shared goal.
- Brighton Collaboration
- Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination
- Coalition for Operational Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases
- Global Funders Consortium for Universal Influenza Vaccine Development
- Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy
- Mectizan® Expert Committee (MEC)
- MedSurplus Alliance
- National Certification Committee (for safe handling and containment of all polioviruses)
- Partnerships for Influenza Vaccine Introduction
- Ready2Respond
- Soil-Transmitted Helminths (STH) Coalition
- Trachoma Expert Committee (TEC)
- TEPHINET
Our Partners
These are some of our major partners excluding the numerous ministries of health we work with:
- Ascension Global Mission
- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
- deBeaumont Foundation
- Johnson & Johnson
- Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., U.S.A.*
- Novartis
- Pfizer Inc.
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- UK aid
- USAID
- World Health Organization
* known as MSD outside the US and Canada
Where We Work
Hover over the shaded countries on the map below for information about our programs. To sort the map by programs or sectors, click on the filters just above the map.
Latest News
Deworming efforts reach five billion doses as new coalition promises further progress
Global deworming efforts have reached a new, unprecedented milestone: more than five billion deworming tablets have been delivered to children around the world. These donated tablets prevent soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections caused by parasites that invade your colon, small intestine, and other parts of the body. “With the long-term commitments
Task Force Elevates Hepatitis, Malaria, and NTD Elimination Efforts to World Leaders
As a non-state actor in official relations with the WHO, The Task Force co-hosted two side events and engaged in many convenings throughout the week, while also tracking official proceedings on critical agenda items. Representatives from The Task Force’s External Relations team, the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination (CGHE), and
Special Projects
In addition to our wide range of global programs, the Task Force supports a range of special projects and initiatives in partnership with others. Please explore some of our project areas below.
The Task Force for Global Health is delighted to become the official home of “Becoming Better Ancestors: 9 Lessons to Change The World,” a free virtual learning series documenting the history and nine key lessons learned from the campaign to eradicate smallpox, the only human disease ever wiped off the face of our planet.
The Becoming Better Ancestors program draws upon lessons from the smallpox eradication effort led by Dr. Foege in the 1960s and 70s to provide a framework for tackling global health challenges to ensure that future generations benefit from the lessons of the past. The series features eminent personalities, including Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Ms. Melinda French Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, and Dr. Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis, to convey a message of hope, resilience and proactive intervention to save and improve lives.
Engaging the Arts in service to global health HEARTS and MINDS is a new intentional collaboration between artists and scientists to tell the real lived stories behind science advancements, global challenges, and community health concerns.
