Published articles by Geraldine Carroll

Project HOPE As reported in:
Medical Diplomacy Against Global Turmoil: The HuffingtonPost, Dec. 23, 2014
Battling Tsunamis, Earthquakes and Ebola
_____________________________________________________________________________________
The United States was there after Asia's tsunami ten years ago. It flew humanitarian aid to
Pakistani flood victims with military helicopters in 2010. U.S. Marines dug Haitians from the
rubble of a deadly earthquake. And now, America is on the front lines of the fight against Ebola
in Africa.
One extra benefit of working in the humanitarian sector after a major disaster is that by treating
the sick and the injured, we can do more than help survivors - we can also enhance the image of
our own country overseas. Of course, this is not our primary goal; we are on humanitarian
missions. But at a time of global turmoil, when national borders are frayed and developing
nations are challenging U.S. influence, this so-called soft power is more important than ever
before.
One aspect of this approach is what I call medical diplomacy, long recognized by the United
States. The U.S. government often uses the unique capabilities and global reach of our armed
forces to bring relief and aid to people suffering in disasters, health crises and epidemics around
the world. And while Washington is still the dominant player, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa
is showing that diverse nations now understand the need to tackle global health crises. China, for
instance, has played a generous role, sending medical teams and laboratory workers to Africa -- a
continent that is increasingly important to Beijing as a source of raw materials, fueling its
development as an economic superpower.

As an example of medical diplomacy in action, I'm reminded of one operation that my
organization, Project HOPE, joined in 2004 -- the Indonesian tsunami disaster. It doesn't seem
possible that a decade has passed since we saw those terrible images of surge tides sweeping
ashore across South and Southeast Asia on December 26, 2004. More than 230,000 people were
killed.
I'll never forget the story of one young Indonesian boy, Iqbal, who was miraculously found
floating at sea two days after the tsunami. His case opened my eyes to the extraordinary power of
American medical assets when allied with the resources of the U.S. Navy -- and also the way in
which vast operations like this can shape the image of our nation in the world.
When Iqbal, who was 12 at the time, reached our Project HOPE doctors on the hospital ship
USNS Mercy, he was suffering from what physicians on the ship were calling "tsunami lung" --
severe aspiration pneumonia caused by inhaling a great deal of seawater and mud.
Under the constant care of Project HOPE volunteer doctors and nurses, Iqbal spent his first week
and a half on the Mercy supported by a respirator. Gradually he began breathing on his own.
Soon after, he began walking. He eventually made a full recovery, and returned to Banda Aceh
with his uncle. Iqbal's courage and strength were a testament to the human will.
The Mercy - which has 1,000 beds, 85 intensive care units, and 12 operating rooms - also carried
210 HOPE medical volunteers. More than 4,000 doctors and nurses applied to be a part of that
team, taking care of 50,000 patients after the disaster. We also brought in more than $7 million in
medicines and supplies donated by global pharmaceutical companies.
A BBC poll showed that 70 percent of the people in Indonesia, a Muslim country, had a hostile
view of the U.S. before the tsunami. But public opinion improved post-tsunami, according to a
poll by the Heritage Foundation which reported that almost 70 percent of Indonesians viewed the
U.S. more favorably because of its disaster relief efforts in the country.
HOPE and other NGOs frequently work with the U.S. Navy, which deploys the USNS Mercy to
Asia and Oceania and the USNS Comfort to the Americas to fly the flag of American medical
diplomacy overseas. We've helped to save and improve countless lives. The numbers are truly
impressive: the missions have visited 42 countries since 2004, caring for more than 827,000
patients, providing nearly two million health services, almost 11,000 surgeries, and conducting
over 240,000 training sessions for local health professionals.
Another hugely successful example of medical diplomacy - is the decade long U.S. effort to
combat HIV/AIDS in Africa, known as PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS
Relief (PEPFAR). Since its debut, PEPFAR has financed antiretroviral drugs for more than 5.1
million people. It's not a stretch to say that millions of people in Africa are alive today because of
the generosity and expertise of the United States.

Now the U.S. is helping against the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. The Obama administration
argues that this is not just a medical crisis but a national security threat, since the disease has the
potential to cripple already unstable African societies and create conditions where extremists can
thrive.
So the brave doctors and nurses, troops and organizers who leave these shores to treat Ebola
victims are doing much more than helping the sick - they are in effect, unofficial envoys, directly
supporting U.S. foreign policy goals.
Secretary of State John Kerry said at the recent Global Health Security Agenda Summit in
Washington that West Africa needs more than emergency relief. It needs a long term
commitment from the developed world.
"In the short term, yes, we need emergency containment," he said. "But in the long term, we need
to help the hardest-hit countries build the kind of health systems and infrastructure that will
allow them to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to the next infectious disease, to any other
outbreak, to stop those outbreaks in the first place before they become epidemics."
Follow John P. Howe, III, M.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/projecthopeorg
More: Project, Hope

The Ebola Outbreak: Good Medicine Against Public Panic The HuffingtonPost, Oct. 7, 2014

In Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, where the health systems are rudimentary, panic is an
understandable reaction to the march of the killer virus Ebola. In the United States, where we
have one of the best health systems in the Western world, people should not be afraid.
But the toll Ebola can wreak in a nation with poor clinical care does point to the vital effort that
Project HOPE and other NGOs make, often without much publicity, to build medical systems
and health care infrastructure in the developing world.
I have watched with some concern as news shows focused on the unfortunate case of the man
who became gravely ill with Ebola in Dallas after returning from a trip to West Africa.
While it is appropriate for politicians and journalists to probe government preparations to stop
the Ebola epidemic reaching our shores, it is important to keep a sense of perspective and to
avoid inflating the fears of the public.
As a former senior health administrator in Texas, and now as the leader of a major international
medical NGO, I know from experience that in the United States and other developed nations, we
have the tools, experience and procedures that can halt any Ebola outbreak in its tracks.
It also vital for the top medical and health officials in the government, and those of us in the
wider medical community with expertise in this area, to say publicly that there is a minute risk of
an Ebola epidemic in the United States. We must say it over and over again to counter attempts
to hype the threat, until the public is reassured.
As Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
(NIAID), said at the White House last week, it is understandable that Ebola creates "a lot of
fear."
"It's the unknown; it's the cataclysmic nature of it -- mainly, it's acute," he said. "It kills at a high
percentage, and it kills quickly."
Understanding that sense of fear is the first step to reassuring the public that the risks of a large-
scale outbreak in the United States are minimal. Just as a reminder: The disease can also only be

passed on through the sharing of bodily fluids.
It is not only because we have so much trust in our 21st century health system that we are
confident we can combat Ebola. We have seen in Nigeria, for instance, how comprehensive
public health plans can turn the tide.
The government in Abuja will soon mark the passage of the second of two 21-day incubation
periods -- after which they will be able to declare the Ebola outbreak in the country over.
While the deaths of eight people among 20 confirmed cases of Ebola in Nigeria is tragic, we can
take comfort in the fact that a functioning public health system, swift isolation and command-
and-control measures halted the Ebola outbreak.
Unfortunately, some other people in West Africa are not so fortunate -- and that is why
quickening the response to the Ebola epidemic is important. The United States is taking a much-
needed leadership role by deploying 4,000 troops to the region to build a command center and
emergency health care infrastructure.
The plan is to control the epidemic at its source, to stop its further spread, to marshal
international efforts and to finally put into place much more capable health care systems that
could slow or prevent future epidemics of this kind and save thousands of lives.
NGOs like Project HOPE plan to be in this for some time to come -- with the commitment to the
long-term which has marked all of our programs around the world.
At the request of the government of Sierra Leone, we have sent a team that includes two
infectious disease experts from the global pharmaceutical company Merck and Co., Inc., known
as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada. We have also sent a volunteer registered infection control
nurse from Massachusetts General Hospital and experts in disaster response and humanitarian
assistance.
The team is conducting a rapid assessment on the ground by communicating with key health and
emergency response officials in addition to surveying major health facilities, logistics
capabilities and lines of communication. This will allow the team to identify key gaps in the
country's ability to combat the Ebola outbreak, effectively treat patients and operate their overall
health system.
The experts are identifying areas to strengthen Sierra Leone's health system by equipping
isolation treatment areas, emergency management and operations centers, education and training,
and more. We can stop the Ebola outbreak, and with it, the tremendous sense of fear.

Project HOPE As published in:
The Ebola Outbreak: How Public-Private Partnerships PhRMA.org, Nov., 2014
Search for Solutions in Sierra Leone
What can be done across the health care community to best respond to
infectious diseases like Ebola?
The Ebola Outbreak: How Public-Private Partnerships Search for Solutions in Sierra Leone
When natural disasters or medical crises erupt around the globe, like the Ebola outbreak, it’s not
unusual for my phone to ring at any hour of the day or night. A government leader or foreign
ambassador in Washington calls with an appeal for help because the rudimentary health systems of
many nations in the developing world don’t have the capacity to respond to major health
crises. Although always composed and articulate, the voices I hear on the phone convey the urgency
and grave concern that is seizing their countries back home in Asia, Africa or Latin America. Ebola was no
different.
Medical humanitarian organizations like Project HOPE are a crucial link in the chain of events when
disaster relief plans are executed in a health crisis. We deployed a team of infection control and disaster
relief experts to Ebola-affected Sierra Leone in early October to assess the general health system
capabilities and develop plans and recommendations for health programs that will fill gaps in the
existing health system, which is overwhelmed by the Ebola outbreak.
The HOPE-led assessment was funded by Merck and Co. Inc., which also lent us two highly skilled
experts from Merck Vaccines: a physician/epidemiologist and former state health officer with
experience in outbreak control, and a pharmacist/epidemiologist with 27 years of military
experience. Our team met with Sierra Leone’s president, the first lady, several ministers and many
other officials.

Project HOPE As published in:
The Ebola Outbreak: How Public-Private Partnerships PhRMA.org, Nov., 2014
Search for Solutions in Sierra Leone
During the nine-day visit, our assessment team identified gaps in the country's ability to combat Ebola,
effectively treat patients and restore its now neglected health system. Project HOPE experts also
focused on how to potentially strengthen the Sierra Leonean health system by deploying laboratories,
treatment centers, education and training and other relevant projects.
Ebola has claimed over 4,920 lives in West Africa and survivors are feeling an enormous emotional toll.
Our team encountered a one-year-old boy in the street. Orphaned by Ebola, he was being fed in a
cardboard box in lieu of a high chair in the major mining hub of Makeni, the fourth largest city in Sierra
Leone and largest economic center of the Northern Province, where 99% of the cases tested from a
population of 112,000 were positive.
The Sierra Leone government understands the need for technical and resourcing assistance, currently
beyond its capability and, in addition, needs international organizations to implement solutions.Some
officials are frustrated at restrictions on travel by airline and shipping companies, which make it harder
to scale up the relief effort.
In a health crisis of this scale, every hour that passes is crucial – a reality well understood by the global
pharmaceutical companies, who look to us to ensure that donated medicines and supplies are delivered
safely to those in need. Project HOPE has delivered multiple shipments of gloves, rehydration salts,
respirators and other medical supplies to Sierra Leone, and we continue to work with our pharma and
other corporate partners to secure more critically-needed supplies.
Back home, the widespread fear of Ebola spreading in the U.S. has pitted state authorities against health
workers returning from West Africa, some of whom are at odds with Ebola quarantine measures. While
Ebola is not easily spread, contrary to misinformed public and media messaging, there are no vaccines
or treatments against Ebola infection available yet despite substantial research progress.
Medical nonprofits like Project HOPE play a critical role in the battle against outbreaks like Ebola, and
our partners in the pharmaceutical industry, including Pfizer, Merck, Boston Scientific, Eli Lilly and Co.,
Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, and BD and many others are on the front lines with us, providing donated
medicines, supplies and financial support so that Project HOPE can answer the call of a challenged
foreign leader, desperate to save lives and contain the blow to the country’s vulnerable health system
and economy.

Published articles by Geraldine Carroll

Empfohlen

Empfohlen

Weitere ähnliche Inhalte

Was ist angesagt?

Was ist angesagt? (10)

Andere mochten auch

Andere mochten auch (19)

Ähnlich wie Published articles by Geraldine Carroll

Ähnlich wie Published articles by Geraldine Carroll (20)

Published articles by Geraldine Carroll