Dr. Tom Frieden served as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Commissioner of the New York City Health Department. His work made New York City\u2019s tuberculosis control program and overall health department models for the world, established effective programs in India, and improved morale, effectiveness, and impact at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Tom Frieden\u2019s influential publications have identified what, how, and why to improve health. Dr. Tom Frieden is a Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations<\/p>\n
During the 2020 outbreak of\u00a0novel coronavirus\u00a0from China,\u00a0Frieden\u00a0emphasized the need to\u00a0learn more\u00a0about the pathogen,\u00a0summarized\u00a0scientific articles as they appeared, and\u00a0called for\u00a0more investment in global preparedness.<\/p>\n
Some of Dr. Tom Frieden\u2019s articles in the media around the 2020 outbreak of novel coronavirus:<\/p>\n
CNN article by Dr. Tom Frieden: Coronavirus pandemic is inevitable. What now?
\nTom Frieden on What\u2019s Next for COVID-19.
\nTom Frieden on CNN on a new game-changing study showing how contagious the novel coronavirus is.
\nTom Frieden Op-Ed in The Washington Post: The next pandemic is coming. We\u2019re not prepared for it.
\nOp-Ed for Think Global Health: Dr. Tom Frieden on the Politics of Epidemics: Health protection can fight disease, reduce economic losses, and save lives
\nOp-Ed at Stat News: Former CDC director Tom Frieden on 3 key questions about the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China
\nFrieden summarizes some of the first scientific articles on the novel coronavirus.
\nTom Frieden Interview at Bloomberg News: Coronavirus Is Much More Contagious Than SARS, Says Fmr. CDC Director
\nTom Frieden shares his opinion at The Washington Post: Can the coronavirus be contained? Unknowns complicate response
\nTom Frieden Interviews at The Hill: Former CDC Director weighs in on spread of coronavirus
\nTom Frieden interviews at CNBC: Dr. Thomas Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control, on the spread of the Coronavirus.
\nTom Frieden shares his opinion at The Washington Post: U.S. readiness for a viral outbreak has improved, but there\u2019s a long way to go.<\/p>\n
The COVID-19 pandemic is the greatest public health crisis the world has faced in more than a century. With over 1.6 million dead and 73 million sickened in 2020 alone, the virus has left very few places and people untouched.\u00a0Leveraging the expertise of our\u00a0Resolve to Save Lives initiative\u2019s Prevent Epidemics<\/a> team, with staff from across the organization, Vital Strategies\u00a0has supported the\u00a0COVID-19 response in over 50 countries\u00a0while continuing our core work to make sure essential services are maintained, and public health systems strengthening continues.<\/p>\n Since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, we have worked to provide reliable, science-based resources and protect people\u2019s lives by:<\/p>\n Our Resolve to Save Lives initiative runs\u00a0PreventEpidemics.org<\/a> to support governments in finding, stopping, and preventing epidemics. Visit\u00a0the Prevent Epidemics COVID-19 Resource Library <\/a>to\u00a0view their extensive COVID-19 research and resources.<\/p>\n Although the light at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic tunnel is visible in certain parts of the world, it remains dim across much of Africa. Vaccine availability ranges from severely lacking to nonexistent\u2014even for priority groups such as healthcare workers. COVID-19 surges in places such as India, where the dominance of new, more dangerous variants has had devastating consequences, are cause for concern in many countries in Africa.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Cases have likely been underestimated across much of Africa since the start of the pandemic, contributing to a dangerous global myth that the continent has escaped the most devastating effects of the virus. Limitations on testing capacity and surveillance make it difficult for governments to properly track the virus, although countries have made great strides in testing capacity. In the past six months, tests per 10,000 people have doubled.<\/p>\n More than one year into the pandemic, we are contending with the threat of the virus itself and the threats associated with pandemic fatigue. To combat the latter, governments must be smart about balancing public health measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 with the impact these measures have on lives and livelihoods.<\/p>\n A group of organizations including Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of Vital Strategies, and the World Health Organisation formed a public-private partnership* to compile and analyze data to provide African Union Member States insight into the direct and indirect effects of COVID-19 in Africa, including the acceptability, impact, and effectiveness of public health measures to combat COVID-19. The Partnership for Evidence-Based Response to COVID-19 recently released its third report based on data compiled in February 2021 from more than 24,000 surveys, data from social and news media, and trend analysis with the previous report. The findings speak to a real and immediate need for us, as part of the global community, to increase support to country leadership as they work to prevent further spread of COVID-19 in Africa, lest another, deadlier wave sweep across the continent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Here\u2019s what we learned from our recent survey:<\/p>\n COVID-19 has become more prevalent across the Member States, although this varies from country to country. The percentage of respondents reporting they or someone in their household had COVID-19 more than doubled from our previous survey fielded in August 2020: from 3 percent to 7 percent in February 2021. And people may not be seeking care for potential COVID-19 symptoms; more than 20 percent of respondents who reported missing healthcare services said they did not seek care despite experiencing symptoms that may overlap with COVID-19.<\/p>\n There has been significant disruption to health service delivery since the start of the pandemic. Among respondents who reported they or someone in their household required a health care visit, almost one in four (23 percent) reported missing or skipping services since November 2020, and 43 percent reported difficulty obtaining medication in the same timeframe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Income loss and food insecurity continue to increase, particularly among the most vulnerable. More than three-quarters of all respondents (77 percent) reported losing some or all of their income since the start of the pandemic. More than 80 percent of respondents reported challenges accessing food in the previous week, increasing 8 percentage points since August 2020. Lower-income households reported higher rates of complete income loss and barriers to accessing food.<\/p>\n Overall, respondents reported high adherence to individual measures to prevent COVID-19, particularly face mask use\u2014an encouraging finding because masks are low-cost and high-impact. However, adherence to measures restricting social gatherings and mobility decreased between August 2020 and February 2021 in most Member States surveyed, in line with governments loosening public health measures.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vitalstrategies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/COVID-19-Eithiopia-PPE-Training-1-1024x683.jpg?resize=538%2C358&ssl=1\")
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Prevent Epidemics<\/h3>\n
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