Towards Effective Emerging Infectious Diseases Surveillance: Evidence from Kenya, Peru, Thailand, and the U.S.-Mexico Border

Abstract

This DTRA [Defense Threat Reduction Agency-sponsored research examines the political economy of emerging infectious disease (EID) surveillance programs; it also provides lessons learned for U.S. military medical research laboratories collaborating with developing countries. It is the third study in a series that began with a comparison of Indonesia, Cambodia, and the Naval Area Medical Research Unit 2 in the context of EID surveillance and viral sovereignty (published by the author as 'Emerging Infectious Disease Surveillance in Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Indonesia, and the Naval Area Medical Research Unit 2,' 'Asian Security', 8(2), (July 2012): 164-187). The second study compared Mexico's handling of H1N1 in 2009 with U.S. handling of H1N1 in 1976 (currently under revise and resubmit with 'Politics and the Life Sciences'). This third report comprises four case studies: Kenya (U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-K or USAMRU-K), Peru (U.S. Naval Area Medical Research Unit-6 or NAMRU- 6), Thailand (Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences or AFRIMS), and the U.S.-Mexico Border (Early Warning Infectious Disease Surveillance or EWIDS). It provides policy makers tools for improving the effectiveness of new or existing EID surveillance programs. Moreover, it offers host countries the opportunity to incorporate ideas, provide opinions, and debate the management of political and economic constraints facing their programs.