Infectious disease threats know no borders, especially in a world where a potentially deadly infectious disease is only a 24-hour plane flight from anywhere in the world. So it’s not surprising that nations are increasingly recognizing the need for global health security, for strengthening local capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats that have global implications.
Such a challenge is an ambitious one, especially for developing countries without a strong public health infrastructure. To help develop an approach for achieving this goal, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), partnered with the ministries of health in Vietnam and Uganda, conducted demonstration projects in 2013 in those countries.