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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.
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.
Commission Launch
The CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security officially launched on April 17, 2018. Commissioners gathered to discuss the major objectives of the Commission for its two-year life span.
Health Security in a Disordered World
On August 6, 2018, the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security hosted a public event on U.S. leadership in meeting the burgeoning health needs of vulnerable populations living in the midst of conflict and disorder.
Second Full Meeting of the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security
On October 2, 2018, the CSIS Commission on Strengthening Health Security held its second full Commission meeting to discuss the Commission’s ongoing work to construct and operationalize a ten-year U.S. vision for health security.
Plagues and the Paradox of Progress: A Conversation with Thomas J. Bollyky
On October 25, the CSIS Global Health Policy Center hosted a conversation with Thomas J. Bollyky on his new book, Plagues and the Paradox of Progress: Why the World is Getting Healthier in Worrisome Ways.
Health Security and North Korea: Film Screening and Discussion
On October 29, the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security hosted a screening of its new film, The Gathering Health Storm Inside North Korea, followed by a roundtable discussion with regional experts and providers of humanitarian assistance.
North Kivu’s Ebola Outbreak at Day 105: What’s Next?
On November 14, the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security co-hosted a panel discussion on the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo with the CSIS Africa Program.
Clade X Pandemic Simulation Exercise
On January 28, 2019, the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security convened a high-level Clade X pandemic simulation exercise in collaboration with Commission expert advisor Tom Inglesby and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
Post-Hong Kong: Human Genome Editing’s Brave New World
On March 27, 2019, the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security and the National Academy of Medicine co-hosted a panel discussion on the unfolding debate over human germline genome editing.
Biological Threats to U.S. National Security: Testimony before the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
On November 20, 2019, Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, Co-Chair of the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security, testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities on “Biological Threats to U.S. National Security."
Munich Security Conference Coronavirus Town Hall
On February 15, 2020, J. Stephen Morrison moderated a public town hall at the Munich Security Conference on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Online Event: Crisis and Survival Amidst COVID-19 in Yemen
On April 27, 2020, CSIS hosted a virtual discussion of the implications of COVID-19 in Yemen with Lise Grande, UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen.
Online Event: Establishing a Bipartisan Covid-19 Commission
On May 1, 2020, CSIS’s International Security Program and Global Health Policy Center spoke with Members of Congress and global health security experts about efforts to establish a bipartisan commission to examine the Covid-19 crisis.
Online Event: A Conversation with Peter Maurer of the ICRC
On May 18, 2020, the CSIS Humanitarian Agenda hosted Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), for a discussion on how humanitarian organizations are adapting and responding to needs during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Online Event: A Conversation with Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
On May 28, 2020, J. Stephen Morrison, Senior Vice President and Director of the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, hosted and moderated a timely conversation with Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) about both the public health and economic dimensions to addressing the coronavirus pandemic.
Online Event: Optimizing U.S. Global Pandemic Response
COVID-19 has revealed stark deficiencies and weaknesses in pandemic preparedness and triggered a new debate over how the United States is to better organize itself against threats that have profound health and economic consequences, at home and abroad.
Online Event: Impact of Covid-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa
On June 15, Steve Morrison, senior vice president and director, Global Health Policy Center and Judd Devermont, director of the Africa Program testified before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on the topic of ‘Impact of COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa.’.
Online Event: Covid-19: Lessons Learned to Prepare for the Next Pandemic
On June 23, Julie L. Gerberding, Co-Chair, CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security, testified before the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on ‘Covid-19: Lessons Learned to Prepare for the Next Pandemic’.
Online Event: The Role of Strategic National Stockpile in Pandemic Response
On June 24 Julie L. Gerberding, Co-Chair, CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security, testifies before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affair on ‘The Role of the Strategic National Stockpile in Pandemic Response’.
Online Event: Covid-19’s Next Cascade of Crises
Online Event: A Conversation with Dr. Anthony Fauci
Online Event: The Scramble for Vaccines and the COVAX Facility
Online Event: The Scramble for a Vaccine: Putin's Sputnik V— "Trust me!"
On September 2, J. Stephen Morrison, Senior Vice President and Director, Global Health Policy Center moderated a discussion on Vladimir Putin's Sputnik V vaccine and its implications for the global scramble for a Covid-19 vaccine.
Online Event: A Conversation with Congressman Tom Cole
U.S. Congressman Tom Cole speaks to J. Stephen Morrison on the U.S. Congress and its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A Conversation with Rajiv J. Shah: A Vision for Equitable Recovery
Dr. Rajiv Shah, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, speaks with J. Stephen Morrison on the Foundation's billion dollar investment into global recovery from Covid-19.
Lebanon's Challenges: A Conversation with U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea
Dorothy Shea, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, speaks with J. Stephen Morrison on the humanitarian and health crisis confront Lebanon in the wake of the August 4 Beruit explosion.
Launch of the 2021 UN Global Humanitarian Overview
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is pleased to host the Washington D.C. launch of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) 2021 report.
Online Event: A Conversation with Anders Tegnell
On December 9, the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America's Health security hosted a conversation with Anders Tegnell, State Epidemiologist of the Public Health Agency of Sweden.
Online Event: Year-End Reflections on 2020 with Dr. Anthony Fauci
On December 14, 2020, the CSIS Commission hosted a conversation with Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
Online Event: Toxic Politics: A Conversation with Yanzhong Huang
J. Stephen Morrison and Jude Blanchette speak with Yanzhong Huang, Expert Advisor to the CSIS Health Security Commission, on his latest book, Toxic Politics: China's Environmental Health Crisis and Its Challenge to the Chinese State.