Event

World Health Summit Plenary: Amy Maxmen on Media's Role in Disease Outbreaks

An Ebola treatment center run by the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Sierra Leone. It contained zero patients in February. Hundreds of millions in donations went to the construction and operation of NGO-run centers in the three hard-hit countries. Image by Amy Maxmen. Sierra Leone, 2015.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015 - 09:00am EDT (GMT -0400)

Science journalist and Pulitzer Center grantee Amy Maxmen speaks on Tuesday, October 13, at the World Health Summit plenary on "Ebola: Assessment, Treatment and Prevention." A preview trailer of the documentary, "We Want You to Live: Liberia's Fight Against Ebola," by German filmmaker Carl Gierstorfer also will be screened at the session.

The World Health Summit notes the theme of the plenary: “The Ebola virus causes an acute, serious illness which is often fatal if untreated. The current outbreak in west Africa (first cases notified in March 2014) is the largest and most complex Ebola outbreak since the Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976. There have been more cases and deaths in this outbreak than in all others combined. Good outbreak control relies on applying a package of interventions, namely case management, surveillance and contact tracing, a good laboratory service, safe burials, and social mobilization. Community engagement is key to successfully controlling outbreaks and to reduce human transmission.”

Chairs of this plenary session for the three-day World Health Summit are Prof. Dr. Ilona Kickbusch, program director of the Global Health Programme at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Switzerland, and Dr. Jean-Claude Manuguerra, director of the Laboratory for Urgent Response to Biological Threats (CIBU) for the Institut Pasteur in France. Both Institut Pasteur and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies are hosts of the session as well as M8 Alliance,

Speakers, their affiliations and topics for discussion are:
H.E. Dr. Martial De-Paul Ikounga, African Union Commission, Commissioner, Human Resources, Science and Technology, Congo
Wim Leereveld, Access to Medicine Foundation, CEO and Founder, Netherlands – "How to Strengthen Research for Neglected Tropical Diseases"
Amy Maxmen, Pulitzer Center grantee and science journalist, United States – "The Role of the Global Media in Disease Outbreaks"
Dr. Suerie Moon, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Research Director and Co-Chair, United States – "Strengthening a Fragile Global System for Disease Outbreak Response: Reflections on Reforms"
Dr. Samba O. Sow, Center for Vaccine Development-Mali (CVD-MALI), Director General, Mali – "Learning from Mali’s Successful Response to the Ebola Outbreak"
Florian Westphal , Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Managing Director, Germany – "Working Together for the Benefit of Patients - The Cooperation Between Humanitarian and Public Health Actors"

"Ebola: Assessment, Treatment and Prevention"
Tuesday, October 13
9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Plenary Hall
Federal Foreign Office Berlin
Unterwasserstraße 10
10117 Berlin, Germany