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Author

Elizabeth Cameron

Bio: Elizabeth Cameron is an academic researcher from Nuclear Threat Initiative. The author has contributed to research in topics: Public health & Global health. The author has an hindex of 4, co-authored 6 publications receiving 63 citations.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
13 Oct 2020-JAMA
TL;DR: This Viewpoint attempts to reconcile the US’s high 2019 preparedness ranking on the Global Health Security Index, an international framework for benchmarking heared.
Abstract: This Viewpoint attempts to reconcile the US’s high 2019 preparedness ranking on the Global Health Security Index, an international framework for benchmarking he

37 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The practical value of the GHS Index is described and potential use cases to help policymakers and practitioners maximise the utility of the tool are presented, as well as describing the robust methodology underpinning country scores and ranks.
Abstract: Infectious disease outbreaks pose major threats to human health and security. Countries with robust capacities for preventing, detecting and responding to outbreaks can avert many of the social, political, economic and health system costs of such crises. The Global Health Security Index (GHS Index)-the first comprehensive assessment and benchmarking of health security and related capabilities across 195 countries-recently found that no country is sufficiently prepared for epidemics or pandemics. The GHS Index can help health security stakeholders identify areas of weakness, as well as opportunities to collaborate across sectors, collectively strengthen health systems and achieve shared public health goals. Some scholars have recently offered constructive critiques of the GHS Index's approach to scoring and ranking countries; its weighting of select indicators; its emphasis on transparency; its focus on biosecurity and biosafety capacities; and divergence between select country scores and corresponding COVID-19-associated caseloads, morbidity, and mortality. Here, we (1) describe the practical value of the GHS Index; (2) present potential use cases to help policymakers and practitioners maximise the utility of the tool; (3) discuss the importance of scoring and ranking; (4) describe the robust methodology underpinning country scores and ranks; (5) highlight the GHS Index's emphasis on transparency and (6) articulate caveats for users wishing to use GHS Index data in health security research, policymaking and practice.

34 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This review conducted a scoping review of English-language scholarly and gray literature to identify evidence- and practice-based indicators and proxies for measuring health security at the country level over time and synthesized four foundational principles for measuring global health security.
Abstract: Since the 2014–2016 West Africa Ebola epidemic, the concept of measuring health security capacity has become increasingly important within the broader context of health systems-strengthening, enhancing responses to public health emergencies, and reducing global catastrophic biological risks. Efforts to regularly and sustainably track the evolution of health security capabilities and capacities over time – while also accounting for political, social, and environmental risks – could help countries progress toward eliminating sources of health insecurity. We sought to aggregate evidence-based principles that capture a country’s baseline public health and healthcare capabilities, its health security system performance before and during infectious disease crises, and its broader social, political, security, and ecological risk environments. We conducted a scoping review of English-language scholarly and gray literature to identify evidence- and practice-based indicators and proxies for measuring health security at the country level over time. We then used a qualitative coding framework to identify recurrent themes in the literature and synthesize foundational principles for measuring global health security. Documents reviewed included English-language literature published after 2001 until the end of the research period—September 2017—to ensure relevance to the current global health security landscape; literature examining acute infectious disease threats with potential for transnational spread; and literature addressing global health security efforts at the country level. We synthesized four foundational principles for measuring global health security: measurement requires assessment of existing capacities, as well as efforts to build core public health, healthcare, and biosecurity capabilities; assessments of national programs and efforts to mitigate a critical subset of priority threats could inform efforts to generate useful metrics for global health security; there are measurable enabling factors facilitating health security-strengthening efforts; and finally, measurement requires consideration of social, political, and ecological risk environments. The themes identified in this review could inform efforts to systematically assess the impacts and effectiveness of activities undertaken to strengthen global health security.

25 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
22 Jan 2019-JAMA
TL;DR: The United States and international community should launch high-level political mobilization, with diplomatic, human, and economic resources, to improve the safety and effectiveness of epidemic response operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Abstract: The Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is exceptionally dangerous, occurring within active armed conflict and geopolitical volatility, including a million displaced persons. With 421 cases, 240 deaths, and the numbers increasing, this Ebola outbreak is the second deadliest in history.1 Recent spread to Butembo, home to 1.2 million people, raised concerns. The DRC, World Health Organization (WHO), and partners are leading a vigorous international response, yet despite deploying an experimental vaccine, cases doubled in October 2018 and many cases had unknown origin. Uncontrolled Ebola outbreaks can expand quickly, as occurred in West Africa in 2014. Averting that outcome in the DRC requires rapid action including a strengthened public health response, security, and community outreach. If violence escalates, it could compromise a fragile response. Yet resources are insufficient. The United States and other countries are not permitting personnel deployment to the epicenter, including from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and US Agency for International Development (USAID). In this Viewpoint, we review recommendations of experts convened by Georgetown University and listed at the end of this article. The United States and international community should launch high-level political mobilization, with diplomatic, human, and economic resources. It is critical to recognize that future health crises will occur in fragile, insecure settings. To prepare, the international community needs long-term planning and enhanced capacities to improve the safety and effectiveness of epidemic response operations.

19 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work believes a capability for detecting whether an organism involved in a human-caused biological event has been genetically modified and, if modified, to infer from its genetic sequence its likely lab of origin could be developed into powerful forensic tools to aid the attribution of outbreaks caused by genetically engineered pathogens.
Abstract: Biology can be misused, and the risk of this causing widespread harm increases in step with the rapid march of technological progress. A key security challenge involves attribution: determining, in the wake of a human-caused biological event, who was responsible. Recent scientific developments have demonstrated a capability for detecting whether an organism involved in such an event has been genetically modified and, if modified, to infer from its genetic sequence its likely lab of origin. We believe this technique could be developed into powerful forensic tools to aid the attribution of outbreaks caused by genetically engineered pathogens, and thus protect against the potential misuse of synthetic biology. A key security challenge with biosecurity threats is determining the responsible actor. In this Perspective, the authors review recent developments in using genetic sequence to assign a lab-of-origin and the potential protection it provides against misuse of synthetic biology.

13 citations


Cited by
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10 Mar 2020

2,024 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article , the authors investigated pathways by which important factors might affect infections with SARS-CoV-2, and assessed the relationship between interpersonal and governmental trust and corruption and changes in mobility patterns and COVID-19 vaccination rates.

150 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Thomas J. Bollyky, Erin Hulland, Ryan M Barber, James R. Collins, Samantha Kiernan, Mark Moses, David M. Pigott, Robert C. Reiner, Reed J D Sorensen, Cristiana Abbafati, Christopher Adolph, Adrien Allorant, Joanne O. Amlag, Aleksandr Y. Aravkin, Bree Bang-Jensen, Austin Carter, Rachel Castellano, Emma Castro, Suman Chakrabarti, Emily Combs, Xiaochen Dai, William James Dangel, Carolyn Dapper, Amanda Deen, Bruce Bartholow Duncan, Lucas Earl, Megan Erickson, Samuel B. Ewald, Tatiana Fedosseeva, Alize J. Ferrari, Abraham D. Flaxman, Nancy Fullman, Emmanuela Gakidou, Bayan Galal, John Gallagher, John R Giles, Gaorui Guo, Jiawei He, Monika Helak, Bethany M Huntley, Bulat Idrisov, Casey K. Johanns, Kate E. LeGrand, Ian D. Letourneau, Akiaja R. Lindstrom, Emily Linebarger, Paulo A. Lotufo, Rafael Lozano, Beatrice Magistro, Deborah Carvalho Malta, Johan Månsson, Ana Maria Mantilla Herrera, Fatima Marinho, Alemnesh Hailemariam Mirkuzie, Ali H. Mokdad, Lorenzo Monasta, Paulami Naik, Shuhei Nomura, J. K. O'Halloran, Christopher M Odell, Latera Tesfaye Olana, Samuel M. Ostroff, Maja Pasovic, Valéria Maria de Azeredo Passos, L. Penberthy, Grace Reinke, Damian Santomauro, Maria Inês Schmidt, Aleksei Sholokhov, Emma Elizabeth Spurlock, Christopher Troeger, Elena Varavikova, Anh Vo, Theo Vos, Rebecca L. Walcott, Ally Walker, Simon Wigley, Charles Shey Wiysonge, Nahom Alemseged Worku, Yifan Wu, Sarah Wulf Hanson, Peng Zheng, Simon I. Hay, Christopher J L Murray, Joseph L Dieleman 
TL;DR: High levels of government and interpersonal trust, as well as less government corruption, were also associated with higher COVID-19 vaccine coverage among middle-income and high-income countries where vaccine availability was more widespread, and lower corruption was associated with greater reductions in mobility.

129 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The study revealed that social media platforms are perceived to be easy to use, useful with a perceived relative advantage, and are therefore essential for disaster management; and the use of social media impacts information accessibility, adaptability, proactiveness and resilience.

52 citations