News – Duke Global Health Innovation Center

30May 2025 by Melissa Slogan

Mpox Transparency and Accountability for the Global Response

Our Reports

Welcome to the fifteenth issue of our report, “Mpox: Transparency and Accountability for the Global Response.” In the wake of the U.S. health agencies’ communications and foreign aid freezes, we hope to serve as a resource for transparency on emerging outbreaks globally while continuing to provide in-depth analysis of the mpox response. We will provide brief updates on emerging outbreaks with the state of available medical countermeasures and diagnostics needed to effectively respond. Highlights: Clade II mpox continues to spread in West Africa challenging the response to adapt to different transmission dynamics: Sierra Leone continues to report a significant growth in the number of new cases over the last three weeks. In the last week, the number of newly notified cases increased 18% (723 vs. 611) and the number of newly…

19May 2025 by Melissa Slogan

Trust Matters Newsletter: May 2025 Edition

News

Welcome to May's edition of Trust Matters, your go-to resource for strengthening trust in health. This issue spotlights the publics’ trust in health information and vaccine safety, the ways in which the U.S. measles surge is a sign of public health’s trust issues, how ordinary citizens can shape health policy, and verified practices to counter disinformation. 🔹 Key Takeaways Trust Crisis in Public Health: Recent KFF polling shows less than half of the public express confidence in government health agencies Evidence Remains Clear: Johns Hopkins researchers reaffirm there is no scientific link between vaccines and autism, highlighting the persistence of this misinformation despite overwhelming scientific consensus Physician Communication Gap: Healthcare providers need new approaches as traditional medical authority no longer automatically translates to patient trust Global Disinformation Response: Several countries are developing specialized agencies and…

15May 2025 by Melissa Slogan

Mpox Transparency and Accountability for the Global Response

Our Reports

Welcome to the fourteenth issue of our report, “Mpox: Transparency and Accountability for the Global Response.” In the wake of the U.S. health agencies’ communications and foreign aid freezes, we hope to serve as a resource for transparency on emerging outbreaks globally while continuing to provide in-depth analysis of the mpox response. We will provide brief updates on emerging outbreaks with the state of available medical countermeasures and diagnostics needed to effectively respond. Sierra Leone experiences an exponential growth in new mpox cases; Steady decline in mpox cases in previously high-burden countries: Sierra Leone is reporting a surge in clade II mpox cases with over 100 new confirmed cases per day, with hot spots in the Western Area (urban and rural) including the capital of Freetown. There has been high severity…

01May 2025 by Melissa Slogan

Mpox Transparency and Accountability for the Global Response

News

Welcome to the thirteenth issue of our report, “Mpox: Transparency and Accountability for the Global Response.” In the wake of the U.S. health agencies’ communications and foreign aid freezes, we hope to serve as a resource for transparency on emerging outbreaks globally while continuing to provide in-depth analysis of the mpox response. We will provide brief updates on emerging outbreaks with the state of available medical countermeasures and diagnostics needed to effectively respond. The intensification phase of the response appears to have an impact with an observed decline in suspected and confirmed cases: There has been a decrease in the average weekly case counts for both confirmed and suspected mpox cases across the continent in the last 6 weeks when compared to the first 6 weeks following the PHECS declaration in…

30Apr 2025 by Melissa Slogan

The COVID Treatment QuickStart Consortium Newsletter: April 2025 Edition

News

This newsletter aims to provide a central hub for information, milestones, and updates regarding the COVID Treatment QuickStart Consortium. The COVID Treatment QuickStart Consortium partners with governments to rapidly introduce and scale access to COVID-19 oral antiviral therapies in vulnerable and high-risk populations presenting with mild to moderate symptoms within five days of symptom onset through a public health test-and-treat model. QuickStart’s top priorities are: Ensuring treatments are accessible in all parts of the world; Preparing for potential future COVID-19 surges; and Building primary healthcare capacity for test-and-treat beyond COVID-19. View the April 2025 QuickStart newsletter. Subscribe to the QuickStart newsletter.

29Apr 2025 by Melissa Slogan

QuickStart COVID-19 Test and Treat resources leveraged to support Marburg and Mpox response in Rwanda

Blog

Rwanda’s Ministry of Health leveraged COVID-19 resources, established through the QuickStart COVID-19 Test-and-Treat Initiative, to respond to the Marburg Virus Disease (MDV) and Claude 1b Mpox outbreak. The Ministry of Health invited the QuickStart team in Rwanda to support various response efforts including development of guidelines and standard operating procedures, supply chain management and strengthening the capacity of healthcare workers to respond to the outbreaks. QuickStart investments have contributed to Rwanda’s health system resilience and pandemic preparedness capacity underscoring the importance of building sustainable investments for resilient health systems. Learn more.

17Apr 2025 by Katharine Olson

Issue 12: 17 April 2025 | Mpox Transparency and Accountability for the Global Response

Our Reports

Welcome to the twelfth issue of our report, “Mpox: Transparency and Accountability for the Global Response.” In the wake of the U.S. health agencies’ communications and foreign aid freezes, we hope to serve as a resource for transparency on emerging outbreaks globally while continuing to provide in-depth analysis of the mpox response. We will provide brief updates on emerging outbreaks with the state of available medical countermeasures and diagnostics needed to effectively respond. Mpox cases in the first quarter of 2025 have surpassed the number of cases halfway through 2024, as climate disasters disrupt response efforts: The number of suspected mpox cases across the continent of Africa have reached nearly 40,000 within the first four months of the year. In 2024, it took six months to reach 40,000 suspected cases highlighting…

03Apr 2025 by Katharine Olson

Issue 11: 3 April 2025 | Mpox Transparency and Accountability for the Global Response

Our Reports

Welcome to the eleventh issue of our report, “Mpox: Transparency and Accountability for the Global Response.” In the wake of the U.S. health agencies’ communications and foreign aid freezes, we hope to serve as a resource for transparency on emerging outbreaks globally while continuing to provide in-depth analysis of the mpox response. We will provide brief updates on emerging outbreaks with the state of available medical countermeasures and diagnostics needed to effectively respond. The Africa CDC is set to release the next phase of the Mpox Continental Response Plan: The incident management support team has completed the second phase of the mpox response plan which will be implemented from March 2025 to August 2025. This plan focuses on intensification, integration, and the legacy of the mpox response. The response strategy is…

31Mar 2025 by Jessica Harris

Building trust in health

Blog, News

Trust in traditional health authorities and information is declining, while capabilities to create and spread false or misleading content are growing stronger. This is set against a backdrop of increasing skepticism in institutions, artificial intelligence reach, and disasters both natural and human-made. Allowing these trends to continue will have health and social ramifications that are increasingly dramatic, deep, and deadly. Against these currents, many trustworthy individuals and organizations act in physical and virtual communities with good intentions—but insufficient coordination, capacity, and community engagement. This results in duplicative content and capacity-building on some topics, scant support on other topics, and continual, costly reinvention of the wheel. It creates an environment that is not only inefficient and potentially inequitable but also works against trust building as well as positive behavior and policy…

20Mar 2025 by Jessica Harris

Issue 10: 20 March 2025 | Mpox: Transparency and Accountability for the Global Response

News

Welcome to the tenth issue of our report, “Mpox: Transparency and Accountability for the Global Response.” In the wake of the U.S. health agencies’ communications and foreign aid freezes, we hope to serve as a resource for transparency on emerging outbreaks globally while continuing to provide in-depth analysis of the mpox response. We will provide brief updates on emerging outbreaks with the state of available medical countermeasures and diagnostics needed to effectively respond. Over 600,000 vaccines have been administered across multiple countries and vaccine shortages may delay further progress: Over the span of two weeks, more than 407,000 people have been vaccinated in Kinshasa which is a 99% consumption rate of vaccines. 39% of these vaccines have been administered to children ages 1-17. Across the targeted populations in the DRC, vaccine…