Fortune: Experts Warn We Aren’t Prepared for a Global Health Crisis: Brainstorm Health (Mukherjee, 9/18). The Guardian: Experts warn world ‘grossly unprepared’ for future pandemics (McVeigh, 9/18). Insider: Bill Gates warned that a devastating ‘quirk of nature’ could kill 30 million people in less than a year. Experts say we’re…

New York Times: Philippines Declares Polio Outbreak After 19 Years Free of the Disease “The Philippines on Thursday announced an outbreak of polio, 19 years after the World Health Organization declared the Southeast Asian country free of the infectious disease. Health Secretary Francisco Duque said government scientists have confirmed the…

CIDRAP News: Violence, 15 new Ebola cases reported in DRC outbreak “After [Tuesday’s] warning by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) African regional office to not be overly optimistic about a recent drop in Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the agency [Wednesday] reported 15 new infections…

Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security: Preparedness for a High-Impact Respiratory Pathogen Pandemic “The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security was commissioned by the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) to assess the state of readiness for a high-impact respiratory pathogen pandemic — that is, pathogens with the potential for widespread…

Christian Science Monitor: Why global health emergencies first need a dose of trust Editorial Board “…While [the DRC Ebola outbreak] appears contained, the [WHO’s declaration of an international public health emergency] was a reminder that medical interventions alone cannot deal with such outbreaks. The missing piece, according to a new…

AFP: DR Congo ex-health minister charged with embezzlement: lawyer “Former Health Minister Oly Ilunga of the Democratic Republic of Congo has been charged with embezzling funds allotted for the fight against the deadly Ebola virus, his lawyer told AFP Tuesday. … Ilunga’s lawyers have rejected the embezzlement claim, saying accounts…

Devex: Opinion: The real problem with vaccine hesitancy Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance “…The only thing preventing most diseases from coming back is the fact that an average of 86% of the world’s children now receive basic vaccination … This is a huge accomplishment, but it has…

CNN: The risk of a global pandemic is growing — and the world isn’t ready, experts say “The chances of a global pandemic are growing — and we are all dangerously under prepared, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In a report published on Wednesday by a panel of…

HHS: Secretary Azar Meets with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Ebola Preparedness “[Tuesday], September 17, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, joined by other senior U.S. health officials, met with the Republic of Uganda President Yoweri Museveni regarding the multilateral response to contain the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic…

CIDRAP News: U.S. officials end visit to DRC Ebola region; cases rise to 3,129 “Over the weekend and through today the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Ebola total grew by 19 cases, as U.S. government officials who recently visited the outbreak area voiced their support for not only the…