Recent news
September 2011
‘Contagion’ shows need for global health research
September 15, 2011 --The movie “Contagion” may be fiction, but it tells a very real story about the threat of infectious diseases and the need for global health research.
In an Op-Ed published in The Hill, GHTC Director Kaitlin Christenson says that “truth closely trails behind” the plot of the movie. She writes that the movie “tells an effective story of why we need new vaccines, tests, drugs, and other tools to prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases to address existing and emerging global health threats.”
As Congress considers funding levels for global health research and development, Christenson urges policymakers not to cut the critical funding needed for research and tools to fight infectious diseases.
“We are on the cusp of discovery on several fronts,” Christenson says as she emphasizes the need to “reach the finish line” with the innovations that will help protect us from emerging global health threats and catastrophic outbreaks like the one the movie portrays.
Christenson finishes by commending the role of a researcher in the film who developed the vaccine that stopped the deadly virus from causing further destruction. “She represented the thousands of researchers who develop vaccines against the flu, or who are testing drugs candidates to fight TB, or who are working on a variety of new approaches to save children from dying of pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria.”
“If we support them, they can protect us,” she concludes.
