Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection in Tanzania
Leveraging Rotavirus Networks
MenAfriNet Meningitis Surveillance in Africa
Stephen B. Thacker Fund
Stephen B. Thacker, MD, MSc, ASG/RADM (Ret.), USPHS, contributed a legacy of extraordinary leadership to CDC and unyielding dedication and contributions to the field of epidemiology and to public health science. This fund honors Dr. Thacker's life and service to public health as well as his passion for the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS). Your gift will help support EIS and CDC’s Disease Detective Camps for high school students. This fund also supports the prestigious Stephen B. Thacker Excellence in Mentoring Award, which is given out each year at the EIS Conference, as well as supports special projects on an as-needed basis for the Stephen B. Thacker Library at CDC.
More about Dr. Thacker
Stephen B. Thacker, MD, MSc, ASG/RADM (Ret.), USPHS, contributed a legacy of extraordinary leadership to CDC and unyielding dedication and contributions to the field of epidemiology and to public health science, including helping to identify Legionnaires disease. He was dedicated to his family, friends and community and is truly missed. Read his full bio.
The Thacker Family established the Stephen B. Thacker Fund at the CDC Foundation to honor his legacy. Today, his family works to continue his legacy by providing ongoing support to the public health leaders of tomorrow. Read the full story.
Compassion Fund for CDC's Global Health Workers
CDC employs more than 1,500 staff in 50+ countries around the world. This fund provides humanitarian assistance to locally employed CDC staff in times of crisis.
These health workers are essential to CDC's work overseas, ensuring the sustainability and diversity of CDC's global programs. As these staff are often the primary breadwinners for their families, assistance from the Compassion Fund can be extremely helpful in an emergency situation.
On Our Blog: CDC Foundation's Compassion Fund for Global Health Workers
Atlanta International Health Fellowship Endowment
In 1984, Drs. Bob Chen and Katy Irwin learned that a physician from a low-income country who had been accepted to the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) was at risk of losing her financial support for this two-year program in applied public health and epidemiology. Because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was not authorized at the time to provide financial assistance to foreign nationals for this applied public health training, the two young physicians decided to address this gap by establishing the Atlanta International Health Fellowship (AIHF).
With help from other EIS Officers, employees and retirees of CDC and Emory University employees and Atlanta residents, they raised funds and formed partnerships with Emory University, CDC and Villa International Atlanta for tuition and lodging support, respectively.
Since the first fellowships were awarded in 1991, over 60 individuals from over 34 countries have received stipends to help cover some of their costs (e.g., tuition, lodging, medical insurance and/or transportation) to complete applied public health courses sponsored by CDC or Emory University.
Today, funds are awarded for both remote online and in-person course formats and the AIHF collaborates with other international fellowship programs, such as the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship. In 1997, the Tull Charitable Foundation made a major grant to enable the AIHF to become the first endowed fund at the CDC Foundation.
For further information, please contact Susanne Salehi at ssalehi@cdcfoundation.org or via phone at 901.907.4224.
Field Epidemiology Training Program - Saudi Arabia
Bed Nets for Children
The CDC Foundation's Bed Nets for Children Program helps the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) teams purchase and distribute insecticide-treated bed nets to help protect children and families from malaria. Malaria is a leading cause of death and disease worldwide.
The Bed Nets for Children Fund is currently supporting the Bidi Bidi Camp in Uganda. Nearly 277,000 refugees have made a home in the Bidi Bidi camp of Uganda to escape the civil war in South Sudan. Living in close quarters with poor nutrition, decreased immunity and lack of access to health services has led to a recent dramatic increase in malaria. The CDC Foundation, working with CDC, needs your help to provide insecticide-treated bed nets to Bidi Bidi to help stop the spread of malaria.
Join with us to make sure every family in Bidi Bidi has a bed net. Give Now
What is malaria?
Malaria is caused by a parasite carried by the Anopheles mosquito. People with malaria typically are very sick with high fevers, shaking chills and flu-like illness, and they can die if they do not receive proper medical treatment. Pregnant women and children under 5 who have little to no immunity are more likely to become severely ill and die.
Malaria typically is found in tropical and subtropical countries where higher temperatures allow the Anopheles mosquito to thrive. Malaria parasites, which grow and develop inside the mosquito, need warmth to complete their growth before they are mature enough to be transmitted to humans.
In sub-Saharan Africa, mosquitoes transmit malaria very efficiently, and the type of malaria parasite most common in the region causes severe, potentially fatal disease. Health experts face many challenges to building solid malaria control programs in the region, including an overall lack of resources, political instability and the emergence of malaria parasites that are increasingly resistant to antimalarial drugs.
What is an insecticide-treated bed net?
A bed net is a net that hangs above a sleeping space, usually a bed or matt, and provides a physical barrier between the malaria-carrying mosquito and the person at risk of getting the disease. An insecticide-treated bed net protects the person sleeping under the net even if the net has small holes in it, because the insecticide kills mosquitoes that do get through the net before they reach the sleeping person. Since insecticide-treated nets kill the mosquitoes, they help reduce malaria transmission community-wide (if there is high use of insecticide-treated nets in the community).
Even where insecticide-treated nets have been recommended for all children under 5 years, most children do not sleep under a bed net. A long-lasting insecticide-treated bed net costs an average of $5 and protects up to three children. Unfortunately, this cost is too high for most families in poor rural African communities who survive through subsistence farming.
How does CDC distribute bed nets? Who benefits?
The CDC Foundation's Bed Nets for Children Program provides insecticide-treated bed nets to CDC-affiliated programs.
Bob Keegan Polio Eradication Heroes Fund
The Bob Keegan Polio Eradication Heroes Fund recognizes health workers and volunteers who have incurred serious injury or lost their lives as a direct consequence of their participation in polio eradication activities. The families of the workers, who have been the victims of automobile crashes, military conflicts and other life-threatening events, receive a certificate recognizing the victim’s heroic commitment to polio eradication and a cash tribute.
When you see a child paralyzed with polio, and you realize that it's totally preventable with existing vaccines, there's a high level of motivation to get involved and make a difference.
The fund was established in June 2000 in partnership with major polio eradication partners. Robert "Bob" Keegan was the first contributor, donating the award money he received when we was recognized with CDC's distinguished William C. Watson Jr. Medal of Excellence. Keegan remained the fund's strongest advocate. When he retired from CDC in May 2007, he completed a bike ride across the U.S. from Florence, Oregon, to Yorktown, Virginia – 4,165 miles – to raise awareness and dollars for the polio eradication initiatives of the CDC Foundation and Rotary International. When Keegan passed away in January 2012, the CDC Foundation renamed this fund in his honor to express our gratitude for his extraordinary leadership and dedication.
"In my mind, this CDC Foundation fund is an extraordinary example of leveraging small amounts of funding to do a tremendous amount of good," said Keegan in a 2005 interview. "When you see a child paralyzed with polio, and you realize that it's totally preventable with existing vaccines, there's a high level of motivation to get involved and make a difference."
About Bob Keegan
Bob Keegan retired from CDC in 2007 after nearly 33 years of service. He spent the first 11 years of his career in STD control. In addition, Keegan helped to investigate Legionnaire's Disease in New York City’s Garment District in the late 1970s; worked to locate non-responders in Fulton County, GA, as part of Agent Orange studies in 1982; and helped to develop the first pre- and post-test counseling for HIV/AIDS.
From 1985–1990, Keegan coordinated CDC’s refugee health activities in Southeast Asia, helping to assure that refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were immunized and treated for communicable diseases. In 1991, he joined the newly formed Polio Eradication Activity, which had a staff of six and an annual budget of $3 million. Since that time, the activity has grown to become CDC's Global Immunization Division (GID), with a staff of 110, and an annual budget of more than $150 million. GID has expanded to include measles mortality reduction and regional elimination, routine immunization systems strengthening, and new vaccine introduction.
Keegan’s leadership, energy and innovation played a pivotal role in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) and in accelerated global measles control and regional measles elimination initiatives. He was an outstanding mentor and technical consultant on program management and operational issues for CDC and WHO. In all his endeavors and accomplishments, Keegan demonstrated outstanding diplomacy, sensitivity and social and interpersonal skills as a CDC ambassador on global immunization to international organizations, governments and global health leaders. He was a true humanitarian who championed global sustainable development and health equity.
Keegan was a recipient of the William C. Watson Jr. Medal of Excellence and the Public Health Advisor of the Year Award from the Watsonian Society. He also received the U.S. Public Health Service Special Recognition Award (1995) for his significant achievements and service in global public health programs. He was also honored as the winner of the Philip Horne Award from CDC’s National Immunization Program (2003) and recipient of a special CDC Foundation 10th Anniversary Public Health Hero Recognition.
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