GDD Accomplishments (highlights since 2006)

GDD monitors and evaluates the program’s capabilities and progress on a quarterly basis, using a framework that includes quantitative and qualitative information related to five key activities.

Outbreak Response

• Provided rapid response to more than 436 disease outbreaks and other public health emergencies, including Rift Valley fever (Kenya), the Sichuan earthquake (China), cholera (Thailand), dengue hemorrhagic fever (Guatemala), anthrax (Kazakhstan), human influenza A (H5N1) (Egypt), and novel influenza A (H1N1) (Worldwide).
• GDD helps build national and regional capacity to ensure that outbreak responses are faster (71% received a response within 24 hours of the request for assistance), more comprehensive (90% involved lab support and of these 93% led to a confirmed cause), and achieve greater public health impact (69% led to saving of lives, preventive action, or policy change).

Pathogen Discovery

• Discovered 36 new pathogens. These new pathogens were either identified for the first time anywhere in the world, or newly discovered within the GDD Center regions.
• 78 pathogens can now be identified locally, up from 11 in 2006. Because this capacity had previously been unavailable, it enables sustainable disease detection capability and expedites the identification of appropriate response interventions.

Training

• The number of Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) trained epidemiologists and laboratorians within GDD Center regions increased from 26 (in 2006) to 175 (in 2009 to date).
• Provided short-term public health training for more than 24,500 participants worldwide. Training topics have included epidemiology, laboratory, all-hazards preparedness, risk communication, influenza, and others.

Surveillance

• More than 4 million persons are under surveillance for pneumonia and other syndromes.
• All GDD Regional Centers have established population-based surveillance and are conducting other surveillance systems or projects. GDD Centers are using these data to detect outbreaks, make policy recommendations, evaluate new interventions, and measure public health impact.

Networking

CDC utilized the GDD network as part of the international response to the H1N1 influenza outbreak during 2009:

• GDD Regional Centers enhanced routine surveillance activities and laboratory testing to better detect unusual activities, provided regional H1N1 training, and provided regular updates regarding suspect and confirmed cases to CDC headquarters.
• GDD Operations Center hosted staff from PAHO, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Canada, and the China CDC to facilitate coordination and collaboration.
• GDD Guatemala helped to provide evidence that the virus expanded south of Mexico. It also served as a regional laboratory for influenza A testing and processed samples from suspected cases and identified those that required further investigation, including additional testing at CDC laboratories.

 

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