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Journal of Infectious Diseases and Therapy ISSN: 2332-0877 | Volume: 6
Infectious Diseases
4
th
Annual Congress on
Neglected Tropical & Infectious Diseases
5
th
International Conference on
August 29-30, 2018 | Boston, USA
&
Notes:
Investing in public health gives especially in low income countries extremely impressive returns
T
he implementation of the International Health Regulation (IHR) of WHO in 2005 for worldwide public health systems is
already in its second extension phase. At the 2012 deadline, only 16% of the countries were fully prepared to detect and
respond to pandemics. In 2014 the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in West Africa was another indicator that WHO’s IHR has to
be taken seriously. Especially the biosecurity part of IHR is not fully in place yet for most developing countries, which makes
the world vulnerable for bioterrorism. According to the World Bank, the returns from investing in public health are extremely
impressive and is not a high-risk venture as with a rapid mortality decline many ‘value life years’ (VLYs) are gained. For low-
and middle-income countries typically about a quarter of the growth in full income resulted from VLYs gained and supports
not only the local economy but also the world economy. Therefore several international programs help to prepare low- and
middle-income countries to mitigate outbreaks of infectious diseases. EU CBRN CoE initiatives and the US CBEP, DTRA, CTR,
GEIS, DIMO, USAID, PEPFAR and several other programs are involved in establishing public health systems and give local
healthcare workers training in both disease outbreak mitigation and biosecurity. Zoonotic diseases are the most dangerous for
outbreaks as the population does not have natural or artificial (from vaccination) immune response to new emerging diseases.
Zoonotic diseases are often neglected in the first instance in developing countries. The recent Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in
West Africa was such an example. Still, there is hope to find fast and supportive therapies with proper blood bank facilities in
place. The therapy with immunoglobulins obtained from plasma donations from survivors is a relatively cheap and effective
therapy. International there was some criticism of this method, as for this therapy it is extremely important that the convalescent
plasma has to be safe for other blood transmissible diseases. But as it is feasible with other convalescent plasma therapies, the
necessary safety tests can be done in the laboratories, which are installed for the outbreak diagnosis. Convalescent plasma can
be obtained from a donor, who has survived the disease, with a novel hollow fiber blood separation technology. This results in
an immunoglobulin concentration, which does not need for its production any sophisticated infrastructure. This patented and
recently developed disposable device is developed in cooperation with the Irish Blood Transfusion Service. Dr. Stef Stienstra
works internationally for several medical and biotech companies as the scientific advisory board member and is also an active
reserve-officer of the Royal Dutch Navy in his rank as Commander (OF4). For the Dutch Armed Forces, he is CBRN specialist
with the focus on (micro)biological and chemical threats and medical- and environmental functional specialist within the 1st
CMI (Civil-Military Interaction) Battalion of the Dutch Armed Forces. For Expertise France he is now managing an EU CBRN
CoE public health project in West Africa. He is visiting professor for the University of Rome Tor Vergata in Italy for the CBRN
Masters Course and lecturer for the NATO School in Oberammergau in Germany and the Joint NATO CBRN-Defense Center
Stef Stienstra
Royal Dutch Navy, The Netherlands
Stef Stienstra, J Infect Dis Ther 2018, Volume 6
DOI: 10.4172/2332-0877-C3-043