Global Health

Stephanie Psaki was the U.S. coordinator for global health security at the Biden White House. She is currently a distinguished senior fellow in global health security at the Brown University School of Public Health:

Last week, the Trump administration rejected the 2024 amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) — a global treaty that the United States has been a part of since 2007. The rejection cited concerns about sovereignty, scientific freedom, and World Health Organization overreach.

Through a pioneering fellowship with Brown’s Pandemic Center, genomic epidemiologist Edyth Parker is working to prevent man-made biological threats and foster responsible innovation by mapping DNA synthesis practices and helping to shape biosecurity policies across Africa.

The United States maintains more than 750 military bases around the world—not just to fight wars, but to prevent them. That same principle has guided U.S. investment in the global footprint of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—the agency tasked with protecting the health and security of Americans—to build and “forward deploy” critical defenses against biological threats worldwide.

Next week at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, 193 member countries of the World Health Organization (with the U.S. notably absent) are expected to adopt the Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response Agreement, also known as the Pandemic Treaty. In anticipation of its adoption, the final agreement has been celebrated as a triumph of multilateralism. The co-chairs of the negotiations described the agreement as a plan to “protect future generations from the suffering and losses [experienced] during the COVID-19 pandemic” and to ensure that in the next pandemic, “the response will be faster, more effective and more equitable.”

Nyameyo puts her online MPH training into action through Lulu-Afrika, the nonprofit organization she founded to address food insecurity, women’s health and safety and the well-being of orphans and prisoners throughout Kenya, Tanzania and South Sudan.

What are the biggest threats to the health security of the American people? There are some strong candidates. Avian influenza is spreading in birds, cattle, and 50 mammalian species. Measles cases are surging at home and abroad. COVID-19 is still spreading and could mutate into a more deadly strain. Farther afield, Uganda continues to respond to an Ebola outbreak and Mpox has been seen in 127 countries. But perhaps the biggest threat to America’s health could be self-inflicted.

On the 5th anniversary of COVID-19’s arrival, Professor Jennifer Nuzzo delivered a Presidential Faculty Award lecture on the U.S. response to COVID, the infectious disease threats we face today and the steps needed to prepare for the public health emergencies of tomorrow.

If you ask anyone, they remember the exact moment that they realized that COVID-19 was going to change the world. For most of us, that moment came during the second week of March 2020. Schools were shut down. Many jobs became remote. But by the time most of our lives were changed by the pandemic, public health experts had already spent weeks or even months trying to stop the spread.

Elon Musk’s slash-and-burn government tear will have lasting effects on global health.

Balancing the rigorous demands of a doctoral program is challenging for the most motivated students, but for those keen to position themselves for profound impact, Brown’s Open Graduate Education program allows Ph.D. students to concurrently pursue a master’s degree in another field.

The Trump administration's foreign aid freeze is happening as a deadly Ebola outbreak spreads in Uganda. Some U.S. health officials are concerned that the situation will only worsen with USAID in limbo. Dr. Craig Spencer, emergency medicine physician and associate professor at Brown University School of Public Health, joins "America Decides" to explain.

Many of the World Health Organization’s problems come down to its own mission confusion

America’s global health commitments keep us all safer

Canadian health officials announced Tuesday that a teenager infected with H5N1 bird flu from an unknown source is in critical condition.

Fusing public health with environmental science, new faculty at Brown are pioneering methods that reveal how climate change is threatening our health. Together, they’re finding solutions.

A Canadian teenager is hospitalized in critical condition with suspected bird flu, health officials reported Tuesday. The teen has been receiving care at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver since Friday, the same day an initial test came back positive for H5 influenza.

This fall there was a deadly disease outbreak in the east African country of Rwanda. But you may not have heard about it, and according to Professor Craig Spencer, that’s a good thing.

Researchers around the globe are tinkering with viruses far deadlier than covid-19.

A study by Brown researchers reveals obstetric mistreatment suffered by mothers living with HIV during labor and delivery in a South African township, and paths toward better care.

This summer MPH student Derrick Webb performed mixed-methods research in Nairobi, attended an HIV conference in Munich and finally joined other emerging leaders in HIV/AIDS research at the prestigious White House Rising Leaders Summit in Washington, D.C.

WHO currently deems the risk of spread to nearby countries as high, but global spread low.

Bart Hearn, a Brown undergraduate concentrating in public health, earned the prestigious Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship and spent his summer researching HIV/AIDS interventions abroad.

Farmworkers need paid sick leave and widespread testing to help prevent an H5N1 pandemic, experts say.

The School of Public Health’s newest research center focuses on health care cost, access and outcomes by comparing data across the globe.

A panel discussion sponsored by the Office of the Dean of the School of Public Health brought experts together to discuss how we respond to the public health crisis in the Middle East.

Officials are racing to conduct more testing to better understand the spread of the virus and its potential risk to humans.

For the 25th annual Dr. and Mrs. Frederick W. Barnes, Jr. Lecture, Dean Ashish Jha was joined by Dr. Michael VanRooyen for a conversation on providing aid during conflict and the changing landscape of humanitarian work, with a focus on the crisis in Gaza.

When humanitarian catastrophes erupt around the world, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the scale of suffering. How do aid workers navigate the immense challenges in order to jump into action—juggling safety, equipment and logistics?

For her summer MPH Practicum, MPH student Yuchan Cao investigated the patterns between smoking and cancer progression among lung cancer survivors in China.

From the Ebola epidemic to COVID-19, former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain discussed the intersection of public health and politics with Dean Ashish K. Jha.

From HIV/AIDS to COVID-19

Serving local and global partners engaged in critical frontline public health work.

The Moi-Brown Partnership for HIV Biostatistics Training, a research training program administered by the Brown Global Health Initiative and directed by the School of Public Health's Department of Biostatistics, has been awarded $1.6 million in renewed federal funding from the NIH Fogarty International Center.

A unique new research laboratory at Samoa’s Ministry of Health.

Mentoring global health leaders and teaching “Burden of Disease in Developing Countries” since 1993.

When it comes to establishing a network of trust, Brown researchers know that community building is essential.

Cape Town is one of Africa’s wealthiest cities, yet it is also home to extreme poverty. Three students from the School of Public Health focus their research on this area, analyzing public health issues.

The Brown University School of Public Health’s global health profile is growing.

A Brown University School of Public Health biostatistician and an infectious disease specialist have received a $3.5-million grant to develop new ways to use data from patient health records to optimize effectiveness of HIV treatment where resources are limited, such as in the developing world. They will work with an HIV care program in Kenya that provides healthcare to more than 130,000 patients a year.