 Global Integration UpdateCommon Ground for the Common Good
Special News--June 2018The End of EpidemicsThe Looming Threat to Humanity and How to Stop ItThe enormous health and financial impacts of epidemics are made worse
through human foibles like fear, denial, panic, complacency, hubris, and self interest. (p. 9)
We humans like to think we are special,
but to a killer virus we are just the same as a bat or a baboon. (p. 25)
A deadly virus, all by itself, is positively benign
compared to what an evil human being can do with it. (p. 57) Ebola virus
In this Special News Update we feature the compelling, new book by Dr. Jonathan Quick. The End of Epidemics (2018), presents a powerful, credible blue print (seven concrete actions) for preventing and managing infectious disease epidemics. “What can be done to stop the next killer virus from destroying millions of lives?’ is the sobering question that links together the pages in this practical, readable volume. More information below!
Warm greetings from Geneva,
Kelly and Michèle  Share your comments and resources on our Facebook page
Featured ResourceThe End of Epidemics, by Jonathan Quick.
A Fear I’d Never Felt Before
What can be done to stop the next killer virus
from destroying millions of lives?
Following a frightening meeting with my staff at the peak of the West Africa Ebola crisis, I asked myself, “What would it take to prevent such devastating epidemics?” A new pandemic could kill more than 300 million people worldwide. It could also reduce global GDP by five to 10 percent – an impact equivalent to the financial crisis of 2008. There will always be new outbreaks of infectious diseases. But as a medical doctor and a global health leader, I know that, by following the prescriptions laid out in this book, it is within the power of modern public health leaders to keep such outbreaks from exploding into catastrophic epidemics that kill thousands or millions.
I was more alarmed than I had ever been in my 35 years of working in public health. The world was facing a potentially global catastrophe unlike anything I, or any of my colleagues, had ever seen. In response to the fears of the far-flung people on my staff, I knew I had to be straightforward and talk frankly and calmly about the crisis.It was a rainy Thursday morning, October 9, 2014, and a hundred of us were stuffed into a classroom-sized room where I was hosting a video conference for the global health nonprofit that I lead, Management Sciences for Health (MASH). More than five hundred staff members from our home office near Boston, and those in field offices in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, were huddled around our various communication devices, listening intently. We had all read or heard appalling reports from medical teams on the ground in West Africa, where the Ebola virus was spinning out of control, condemning thousands of people—including some of our own beloved colleagues—to horrific deaths. At this moment, some team members were reporting in from ground zero in Liberia, where the epidemic was rampaging.... (pp. 1-2, Prologue)
Seven fundamental sets of actions needed for preventing epidemics:
--1. ensuring bold leadership at all levels
--2. building resilient health systems
--3. fortifying three lines of defense against disease (prevention, detection and response
--4. ensuring timely and accurate communication
--5. investing in smart, new innovation
--6. spending wisely to prevent disease before an epidemic strikes
--7. mobilizing citizen activism. (p. 8)
Building a Successful Social Movement
Building a successful social movement. Diagram synthesized from various sources, cited on p. 227. “We all win when thousands or millions of us join together…” (p. 226)
See the book web site for more resources--interviews, articles, videos, pod casts (http://www.endofepidemics.com/)--Our Complacency about the Flu is Killing Us, Time (19 January 2018)
--The Coming Pandemic, BBC World Service (25 May 2018)Book available hardcover (new and used) and electronic/KindleAmazon, etc.
Dr. Jonathan D. Quick is senior fellow and former president an CEO of Management Sciences for Health in Boston. He is an instructor in medicine at the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chair of the Global Health Council. He has worked in more than 70 countries.
Member Care Associates Inc. (MCA) is a non-profit organisation working internationally from Geneva and the USA. MCA's involvement in Global Integration focuses on the wellbeing and effectiveness of personnel and their organizations in the mission, humanitarian, and development sectors as well as global mental health, all with a view towards supporting sustainable development for all people and the planet. Our services include consultation, training, research, developing resources, and publications.
------------------------
Global Integration is a framework for actively integrating our lives with global realities by connecting relationally and contributing relevantly on behalf of human wellbeing and the issues facing humanity, in light of our integrity and core values (e.g., ethical, humanitarian, human rights, faith-based).
|
|
|
|
