A discussion with

Ronald E. Blanton M.D. M.Sc., Professor of International Health and Epidemiology and Biostatistics

James W. Kazura M.D., Professor of International Health, Medicine and
Pathology and Director, Center for Global Health and Diseases

Christopher L. King M.D., Ph.D. Professor of International Health, Medicine and Pathology.

Sept 10, 2014
5:30 – 6:45 p.m
Ford Auditorium, Allen Medical Library
11100 Euclid Avenue, Corner of Adelbert
(across the street from Severance Hall)

On August 8, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated the EBOLA outbreak in West Africa as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. This sets in motion obligations for all 196 nations that have signed the International Health Regulations, and especially for the immediately affected countries – including extraordinary supplementary measures, such as quarantine. On August 20, a team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine that, “Every day that disease transmission remains uncontrolled, the likelihood of spread to unaffected countries increases… “an outbreak anywhere can be a risk everywhere.” The same day, WHO’s Director-General described “the outbreak, in all of its unprecedented dimensions” as “an emergency of international concern” and that it “far outstrips [affected nations’] capacity to respond.” She added that decisions to quarantine the area where the borders of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone “intersect… have brought extreme hardship to more than a million people – but are essential to containment.”

In order to help our community understand this fast-developing crisis, three distinguished scholars from the CWRU School of Medicine’s Center for Global Health & Diseases have agreed to give an update on September 10. Join us as we discuss the medical and social dimensions of the epidemic, and the risks and responsibilities for the nations to which it has not spread.

Co-sponsored by the Center for Global Health and Diseases and the Center for Policy Studies