COVID-19

In the spring during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts, Harvard Medical student Ahmed Elnaiem saw firsthand how equity issues affected residents in Holyoke, one of the poorest cities in the state. Ahmed’s interest in social justice stems from his own childhood. His passion for exploring medicine’s role in addressing inequities led him to his mentor, Louise Ivers, MD, executive director of the Center for Global Health at Massachusetts General Hospital. Policymakers often turn to Dr. Ivers, a public health expert, during crisis situations. When Holyoke public officials asked Dr. Ivers for support in fighting COVID-19, she called upon Ahmed who [...]

AT THIS PIVOTAL MOMENT in global health, Vanessa Kerry, MD, MSc, is among the Mass General leaders working tirelessly to address the deep-rooted health disparities that have put the world’s most vulnerable populations at higher risk of COVID-19 infection and death. In the U.S., the death rate in areas with majority populations of color is six times higher than in majority non-Hispanic white areas, according to analysis by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. People living in impoverished, crowded and racially and economically polarized regions are at the greatest risk. Internationally, across low-income countries, disparities are exacerbated by [...]

THE MASS GENERAL Center for Global Health (CGH) played a key role in the dissemination of MGH’s COVID ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) antibody test to support the urgent need for accurate testing and disease surveillance in Haiti and Bangladesh.Once Mass General had its ELISA test developed in March, Jason Harris, MD, MPH, Chief of Pediatric Global Health at Mass General Hospital for children, CGH Executive Director Louise Ivers, MD, MPH, DTM&H, and Richelle Charles, MD, FIDSA, Principal Investigator in the MGH Division of Infectious Diseases and CGH Associate in Global Health, in concert with other MGH staff, quickly joined forces with [...]

ON APRIL 1, Mass General Center for Global Health (CGH) partner Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH) broke ground on a new temporary COVID-19 Treatment Center that will more than triple the hospital’s capacity to properly manage, isolate and treat patients with COVID-19 as well as other highly infectious diseases. MRRH is a 600-bed hospital with a current full isolation capacity of only 16 beds housed in a temporary shed. The current Isolation Unit received its first COVID-19 patient on May 17. As of September 10, MRRH health workers have treated 66 confirmed COVID-19 cases—managing and discharging 59 of those patients [...]

AN INNOVATIVE SOLUTION from Mass General employees is helping increase testing capacity while limiting risk to health care providers and patients and conserving limited supplies of personal protective equipment. Kristian Olson, MD, Director of CAMTech and Mass General Hospital’s Springboard Studio, in conjunction with an external design firm, has developed “Hexapods”—personal protective booths equipped with three gloved external hand ports, allowing clinicians to administer a swab test to patients without making direct contact. The concept increases safety for both health care providers and patients, ameliorates testing capacity, and has cut down consumption of scarce PPE such as N95 masks by [...]

The Holyoke Board of Health and Massachusetts General Hospital are conducting a research study to determine how many people in Holyoke have had COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. It aims to find out who has been most at risk for COVID-19 so far, and to learn more about how it spreads. Why is it important? The spread of COVID-19 has impacted many communities, forcing city and state officials to implement containment strategies such as lockdowns and other social distancing measures. Sero-epidemiologic studies, which measure antibody levels in individuals in the community, can help understand what percentage of individuals [...]

Led by Stephen Asiimwe and Annet Kembabazi, The Global Health Collaborative (GHC) is closely working with key partners, Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH), and CGH Boston, to enhance capacity and support for regional COVID-19 response. With support of The Wyss Foundation, and in collaboration with MUST senior leaders, we are repurposing some resources from the First Mile program towards the COVID-19 response. Proposed support will go towards: Surge infrastructure development that includes construction of temporary 80-100 bed COVID-19 Treatment Center at MRRH, with technical support from Build Health International. Procurement of emergency supplies [...]