All Articles
The Time Is Now for U.S. Global Leadership on Covid-19 Vaccines
The United States ignores at its peril the Covid-19 pandemic that continues to rage outside its borders. The United States should launch a signature global initiative on Covid-19 vaccine supply, delivery, and demand, propelled by high-level U.S. diplomacy.
Navigating Collapse in Lebanon’s Covid-19 Response
Lebanon faces cascading crises. The United States should expand its technical and financial support to the international agencies filling critical gaps in the Covid-19 response in Lebanon, and it should work with its European allies to support the Ministry of Public Health as it oversees the Covid-19 vaccine rollout.
What Did the U.S. Military Learn in the First Year of the Pandemic?
How has the military coped with ensuring its own readiness during the pandemic and how do militaries best support the civilian response to the pandemic? Answers to these questions will not just help the United States prepare for the next public health emergency—natural, accidental, or intentional—but they will have global applications as well.
WASH as a Critical Component of Primary Health Care and Health Security
More than three decades have passed since the Declaration of Alma-Ata proclaimed primary health care (PHC), along with water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), to be basic inputs for public health. The outbreaks of Ebola virus in West Africa and in the Democratic Republic of Congo reinforced the important role WASH services play in protecting clinical staff from infection and preventing community transmission of the virus.
Making Gender a Primary Focus of Global Health Security
The Covid-19 pandemic has glaringly illuminated and exacerbated gender inequalities in health and development around the world. These mutually reinforcing crises, further compounded in countries with high HIV burdens, demonstrate that strengthening global health security requires a concerted focus on the health, development, and leadership of women and girls.
Immunizing the World in a Novel Pandemic
The novel coronavirus pandemic disrupted years of progress against vaccine-preventable diseases and created several new obstacles to sustaining access to global immunization. As the world surpasses 100 million cases of Covid-19, how are efforts such as the Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator’s COVAX Facility working to secure global collaboration, to ensure access to Covid-19 vaccines for all affected populations, and to begin to turn the tide of the pandemic?
New Variants Rattle the World
SARS-CoV-2 variants confer a new competitive edge to the virus and threaten to change the pandemic game fundamentally, at the very moment when many countries are facing runaway outbreaks and worsening economic and social crises.
Co-Chair Statement on the December 2020 Commission Meeting
The Covid-19 pandemic has profoundly changed our world. CSIS Health Security Commission Co-Chairs Kelly Ayotte and Julie Gerberding define this extraordinary moment and the work the Commission has begun to advance a U.S. global health security agenda in the Covid-19 era.
Universal Health Coverage and Primary Health Care within the Covid-19 Context
Nearly a year into the Covid-19 pandemic, as the world marks [International Universal Health Coverage Day](https://universalhealthcoverageday.org/) on December 12, ensuring widespread access to essential services has gained new visibility as a critical global health priority.
What Can the United States Do to Prevent Another Pandemic? Commit to Modernizing Influenza Vaccines
_The Covid-19 pandemic has laid bare the acute vulnerabilities in the United States’ health security policies and capacities. While the Covid-19 crisis is far from over, we cannot afford to be complacent about what has long been understood to be a principal health security threat: influenza viruses._
Advice to the Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response
J. Stephen Morrison and Carolyn Reynolds offer advice to the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response on how to meet this historic moment and capture the attention of world leaders to effect meaningful change.
Trump and Putin's Pandemic Duet: Trump's America Is Far More out of Tune
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump share a Covid-19 response playbook that has led each country into deep trouble. Yet historic failures of leadership in the United States have led to runaway outbreaks and staggering death counts that far outrace Russia’s.
Is It Possible to Avert Chaos in the Vaccine Scramble?
In the global scramble for a Covid-19 vaccine, the United States has pursued a nationalist approach. This paper argues that it is in the core national security interests of the United States to adopt a hybrid strategy, one that blends nationalism and internationalism.
The U.S. Government and Antimicrobial Resistance
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a slow-moving epidemic that kills hundreds of thousands annually. The COVID-19 pandemic will worsen the problem. The U.S. government should take immediate action to mitigate the threat posed by AMR domestically and globally.
WHO and President Trump on the Ledge
President Trump's suspension of funding to WHO could gravely compromise the global response to Covid-19. If common sense and diplomacy prevail, the administration and WHO can walk back from the ledge, with a bipartisan nudge from Congress and gentle pressure from the G-7.
Covid-19 in the D.C. Area: Should We Be Concerned or Optimistic?
How bad is Covid-19 likely to be for the District of Columbia and the broader region? CSIS’s J. Stephen Morrison analyzes the key factors affecting the outlook for the U.S. capital.
Find My Friends in a Pandemic: The Future of Contact Tracing in America
Many countries that have slowed the spread of Covid-19 have used digital tools to monitor transmission and movement. This poses a challenge for the United States as it seeks to expand contact tracing and roll back social distancing measures while protecting privacy rights.
Which Covid-19 Future Will We Choose?
The Covid-19 pandemic will change history, but its path is not yet clear. This commentary summarizes the major drivers behind the pandemic—both natural and political—and sketches three possible scenarios for how the Covid-19 pandemic may play out.
Coronavirus Update: Rapid Construction of Medical Facilities
CSIS experts analyze new satellite imagery showing that the Chinese government has made exceptional progress in constructing two emergency medical facilities in Wuhan.
Critical Questions: The Novel Coronavirus Outbreak
A new coronavirus rattles China and threatens to become a global pandemic. CSIS’s J. Stephen Morrison, Jude Blanchette, Scott Kennedy, and Stephanie Segal weigh in on the global health security, economic, and geopolitical implications of the cascading outbreak of 2019-nCoV.
How Can We Better Reach Women and Girls in Crises?
A categorical shift is required for the U.S. to prioritize women’s and girls’ health and protection in crisis settings to advance resiliency and health security. This report proposes an approach to harness USG capacities and catalyze action for women and girls.
An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure
Despite recent progress in health security policy formulation, there are still critical gaps in global health security preparedness, and the threat of a deadly pandemic is growing. The United States cannot afford not to invest in global health security.
Can Digital Health Help Stop the Next Epidemic?
The convergence of digital technologies with health systems, or “digital health,” has major health security implications. This brief outline recommendations for policymakers to ensure the necessary data are available in the right place, at the right time, and to the right people.
The Ebola Virus Is Winning in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
Over a year into the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), insecurity and chaos are impeding access and crippling the response. CSIS’s J. Stephen Morrison lays out what it will take to end the outbreak.
Putin and Global Health: Friend or Foe?
The CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security examines Russian behavior in the global health sphere and outlines an opportunity to expand U.S. engagement to promote health security and counter Russian influence in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Commission Co-Chair Statement on the 3rd Meeting of Commission Members
Following the third meeting of the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security, Commission co-chairs Kelly Ayotte and Julie Gerberding call for Congress and the administration to advance a U.S. doctrine of continuous prevention, protection, and resilience.
Federal Funding for Biosafety Research Is Critically Needed
Our rapidly expanding ability to understand and manipulate life is outpacing biosafety, the practice of preventing accidental exposure of people, animals or the environment to dangerous microbes. This brief proposes targeted research to address this health security threat.
The U.S. Department of Defense’s Role in Health Security: Current Capabilities and Recommendations for the Future
The CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security proposes ways to strengthen and integrate the Department of Defense’s unique capabilities into a cohesive U.S. health security approach.
Harnessing Multilateral Financing for Health Security Preparedness
The financing gap for preparedness is one of the starkest problems in health security. The CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security proposes some sensible pathways for leveraging this year’s IDA19 replenishment to help close this gap.
Human Genome Editing’s Brave New World
J. Stephen Morrison and Dr. Victor Dzau of the National Academy of Medicine discuss the future of human genome editing.
More Is Possible Now to Address North Korea’s Health and Humanitarian Needs
Ahead of the Trump-Kim Vietnam summit, Commission Secretariat Director J. Stephen Morrison argues that the Trump administration should take concrete steps to address urgent health and humanitarian needs in North Korea.
Fentanyl Opens a Grave New Health Security Threat: Synthetic Opioids
China’s commitment to ban fentanyl as a drug class, a welcome announcement at the December 2018 G20 summit in Buenos Aires, was just the most recent, powerful signal of the growing understanding that fentanyl, the front edge of a new era of synthetic opioids, poses a grave, direct health security threat.
The Impossible State Podcast: The Gathering Health Storm Inside North Korea
J. Stephen Morrison and Victor Cha discuss the bleak health realities in North Korea, an understudied part of the larger problem of potential instability on the Korean peninsula and a potential health security threat.
North Kivu’s Ebola Outbreak at Day 90: What Is to Be Done?
The Ebola outbreak unfolding in Eastern DRC is the most recent, powerful showcase of what it means to battle dangerous health security threats in a disordered world. While categoric judgments are elusive, the high risk of losing the game in the DRC is becoming apparent.
Video: The Gathering Health Storm Inside North Korea
The Gathering Health Storm Inside North Korea examines the rapid decay of North Korea’s health systems and the dangers it poses to neighboring countries, through interviews with experts on North Korea and health security and exclusive footage from inside the little-seen nation.
Preview: The Gathering Health Storm Inside North Korea
The Gathering Health Storm Inside North Korea examines the rapid decay of North Korea’s health systems and the dangers it poses to neighboring countries, through interviews with experts on North Korea and health security and exclusive footage from inside the little-seen nation.
The New Realism, An Uncomfortable Middle
We are at a turning point in thinking about what comes next in controlling HIV/AIDS in the coming years.
Navigating the Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Peter Salama, WHO Deputy Director-General of Emergency Preparedness and Response, discusses the response to the current Ebola outbreak in a conflict-ridden region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Role of the IFRC in Humanitarian Response and Preparedness
Elhadj As Sy, Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), discusses the role of the IFRC in humanitarian and outbreak response and preparedness.
Health Security Downgraded at the White House
On May 9, the day after the Democratic Republic of the Congo confirmed an Ebola outbreak, the Trump administration dismissed Rear Admiral Tim Ziemer and dissolved his post as senior director for global health security and biothreats.
The Global Threat of Yellow Fever
Daniel Lucey, a senior scholar with the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, discusses the global threat of yellow fever.
European Leadership in Humanitarian Aid and Emergency Health Response
Christos Stylianides, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management and European Union Ebola Coordinator, discusses the European Union’s role in the May-June 2018 Ebola response.
Frontline Perspectives on Pandemic Preparedness
Beth Cameron, CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security expert advisor and Vice President of Global Biological Policy and Programs at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, discusses global health security and pandemic preparedness efforts with Amadou Sall and Andrew Kitua.
Opportunities for Health Diplomacy in North Korea
Kee B. Park, Harvard Medical School Paul Farmer Global Surgery Scholar and Korean American Medical Association Director of North Korea Programs, discusses opportunities for diplomatic progress with North Korea through health.
The Gathering Health Storm Inside North Korea
Health realities in North Korea are grim, poorly understood, and seldom studied as part of the larger problem of potential instability on the Korean peninsula.
A Ripe Moment for Reducing Vaccine-Preventable Disease
Immunizations are one of the most effective and cost-effective health promotion tools, yet despite focused efforts to increase global vaccine delivery, more than one in ten children received no vaccines in 2016.
The Spanish Flu a Century Later: 2018 is Not That Different From 1918
The Spanish influenza cataclysm ignited 100 years ago, and while we certainly live today in a superior state of preparedness, modernization and globalization have also driven up health security risks.
The New Barbarianism
Healthcare and humanitarian workers are increasingly in the crosshairs as hospitals and aid centers have become part of the battlefield in today’s wars.
Meeting Basic Health Needs in a Venezuela in Crisis: What Roles Can the United States and International Community Play?
Since 2014, Venezuela, which at one time enjoyed international recognition for its malaria elimination program, achievements in life expectancy, and progress addressing infectious diseases, has shown increasingly negative health indicators.
Ebola in America: Epidemic of Fear
Ebola in America: Epidemic of Fear” is a groundbreaking feature-length documentary that tells the story of the 2014 Ebola outbreak’s effect on America as well as the public health and government response.