Posts Tagged ‘Infectious Disease’

Anthony LaFauce
Anthony
LaFauce

The Malaria Conversation on a Global Scale & What it Means for Communicators

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

With smart phones and Twitter at the ready, the first annual International Healthcare Social Media Summit kicked-off at 9:00 am EST on May 18th in Washington, D.C.

Spectrum’s own John Seng welcomed all attendees, virtual and physical, including GLOBALHealthPR partners from over seven countries and introduced the four panelists: Aurora PR‘s Neil Crump and Aaron Pond (UK) , PR Partners‘ Paola de la Barreda (Mexico) and Spectrum’s Anthony LaFauce.

Panelists presented data found in an 11 country, cross-cultural case study pertaining to the malaria pandemic and the evolving use of social media as an outreach resource. You can watch the event start to finish below.


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Posted in Blogosphere, Cancer, Disease Awareness, Research, Social Media, Technology
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MaggieSchmerin
Maggie
Schmerin

Spectrum Infection: Lessons Learned – H1N1 A Year Later

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

nicGreetings from the 44th National Immunization Conference in Atlanta! With the one year anniversary of the H1N1 outbreak upon us this week, there is not a more fitting place for officials from NIH, HHS, CDC, FDA, state and local health agencies, vaccine advocacy organizations and vaccine manufacturers to gather.

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius delivered the conference’s keynote address, which focused on the response to the H1N1 flu pandemic, the lessons learned and efforts to strengthen America’s health security in the future.

On April 21, 2009, the CDC was alerted to a new strain of influenza in California and Texas, similar to one that was presenting in Mexico. Kathleen Sebelius was still serving as governor of Kansas, but seven short days later would be sworn in as our country’s 21st HHS Secretary and quickly whisked into the Situation Room at the White House where President Obama and other government leaders were beginning to mount an attack on what would become the world’s first pandemic in 40 years.

Over the course of the past 12 months, the federal government worked alongside state and local health agencies to ensure that Americans were prepared for and protected against H1N1, and the H1N1 vaccine was the keystone of these efforts. As Secretary Sebelius stated, “The H1N1 vaccine was the most ambitious immunization campaign ever.” (more…)

Posted in Infectious Disease
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LizBryan
Liz
Bryan

Spectrum Infection: The U.S. Global Health Initiative: How Can they Measure Results to Create More Success?

Friday, April 16th, 2010
The U.S. Global Health Initiative: Issues and Perspectives Panel

The U.S. Global Health Initiative: Issues and Perspectives Panel

One year ago this May, President Obama announced the formation of the Global Health Initiative (GHI), a $63 billion project spanning six years dedicated to developing a comprehensive U. S global health strategy. With a focus on combating HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), malaria and other global health issues, the GHI brings together multiple government agencies to strengthen health systems and fight diseases around the world.

Earlier this week I attended a panel discussion and forum organized by The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in which three senior-level government officials involved in the GHI addressed key issues ranging from implementation challenges to promoting country ownership of GHI initiatives, to budget allocations, to the GHI’s increased focus on women’s health issues.

As the panel spoke and answered audience questions, one theme caught my attention again and again: the need for the GHI to better measure and capitalize on their successes, apply them to existing and expanded platforms and push for results. (more…)

Posted in Infectious Disease
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Infectious Disease
Infectious
Disease

Spectrum Infection Thursday: Shining a Spotlight on Malaria – Part II

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

I’ve been thinking for the last few days about a blog post that Brennan Gamwell, one of our interns, wrote last week on the Full Spectrum Blog. He wrote, “An estimated 250 million people are infected with malaria each year, and nearly one million die. The toll of the disease is most notable in Sub-Saharan Africa, where between two and four percent of individuals are infected, and where the mortality rate climbs even higher due to a substantial number of co-infections with HIV/AIDS.”

I wanted to expand on that because it contains an interesting fact, and leaves us with something to ponder. And that is, if we could improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of TB and malaria, some estimate that we could potentially reduce the number of people dying with AIDS by about half. In 2008, two million people died with AIDS. That means that about two million people who died in 2008 and 2009 would be alive today, including many children in the developing world. 

TB and malaria are both preventable and curable conditions, and we have made enormous strides in malaria prevention and treatment. But much more needs to be done. ONE, the global grassroots advocacy organization characterizes the challenge: ”While the world has battled malaria and TB for centuries, the immense human toll of AIDS in the late 1990s injected a new urgency into the need to enhance prevention and treatment efforts. Though the resources to fight these diseases have increased exponentially in recent years, funding remains too little and too slow in coming. Moreover, weak health systems have limited success in the fight against these diseases, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.” (more…)

Posted in Disease Awareness, Infectious Disease
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MaggieSchmerin
Maggie
Schmerin

New iPhone Apps Show Grassroots through Gadgetry

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

A quick search on Apple’s App Store produces hundreds of health related applications (apps) – ranging from health news portals to fitness and diet tips. But health, science and pharma companies should take note that two recently launched apps – Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform and Outbreaks Near Me – represent the healthcare industry’s introductory foray into true mobilization via this tool.

Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform

Howard Dean has long been recognized for his ability to build grassroots networks and mobilize voters online. In keeping with his efforts to encourage interactive citizen engagement, last month Dean released his solution to the healthcare conundrum – as an iPhone app.dean4

For $4.99, Apple customers can download Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform – an app which includes Dean’s synonymously-titled book, a citizen action toolkit and a video of Dean detailing his plan.

In the midst of the increasingly crowded healthcare debate, with this iPhone app, Dean is providing a tool which breaks through the clutter and encourages direct social action. As app users read Dean’s plan, they can simultaneously interject themselves into the conversation by using the toolkit. Readers are able to:

  • Contact Congress. Tapping into the iPhone’s current location, the app generates telephone numbers for the corresponding Congressional representatives and allows readers to place a call to their political representation from their iPhone.
  • Sign a petition. Fans of Dean’s plan can express their approval by linking to and signing his online petition.
  • Involve friends. The app enables readers to forward emails to their stored phone contacts about Dean’s book, the healthcare reform debate and how to get involved, as well as to post to their Twitter and Facebook profiles. (more…)

Posted in Community Involvement, Health Care Industry, New Media, Public Health, Technology
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mcover
Michael
Cover

In a Pandemic, Early Intervention Can Save Lives

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

As we learn more about the evolving situation with regard the H1N1 strain of influenza circulating around the world, it is useful to look to our past experiences with pandemic influenza to learn and apply any lessons that can help mitigate sickness and death.

Let’s call this a tale of two cities…in the 1918 Spanish Influenza epidemic, a minimum of 50 million people around the world died from the flu or from secondary infection. But not all localities experienced the same death rate, largely due to the public health guidance that was followed in that specific area. In the US, St. Louis and Philadelphia had vastly different outcomes, despite the fact that the same strain of influenza infected their communities.

In 1918, there were no influenza vaccines or antivirals and limited international travel. The public health responses were limited to isolating the ill, quarantining houses, closing schools, canceling worship services, restricting the size of funerals and weddings, closing saloons and theaters, restricting door-to-door sales, discouraging the use of public transportation, staggering the hours of business and factory operations, imposing curfews and, in some places, recommending the use of face masks in public.

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