Strengthening Capabilities to Manage and Respond to Biological Threats

Signature Initiative to Mitigate Biological Threats in Africa (G7-led Global Partnership and Africa CDC) and the University of the Witwatersrand

Venue: 1.6.1 – 1.6.4 Cape Town International Convention Centre 1

Date: Friday, 15th December 2023 Time: 07:00 – 09:00 am SAST

In the context of a major push to finalise a WHO convention on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, a convening to provide an update on the implementation of the Signature Initiative to Mitigate Biological Threats in Africa supported initiatives in the domain of biosecurity and biosafety and the socialization of a policy brief on Strengthening Capacity and Capability for the Identification, Attribution and Consequent Management of Accidental and Deliberate Pathogen Releases in Africa. The 2-hour long convening will be organized into 3 sessions with presentation and discussion slots, bookended by opening and concluding remarks.

Co-Chairs: Zeblon Vilakazi (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa); and Yenew Kebede (Africa CDC, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia).

Free for registrants of the ASLM conference, day visitors can attend for a fee.

Original event description follows:

Our Storied Health Film and Media Series is a year-long integrated media experience that illuminates the importance of our collective health and what can be done to enhance it. The series, curated by Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, Director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown School of Public Health and Dr. Jennifer Galvin ’95, an epidemiologist and documentary filmmaker, opens with a screening of “Shot in the Arm,” a film by Scott Hamilton Kennedy.

Through film screenings, campus conversations, and how-to workshops, this series showcases the power of storytelling as a public health intervention. The Series is curated by Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, Director of the Pandemic Center of the Brown School of Public Health, with epidemiologist and documentary filmmaker
Dr. Jennifer Galvin ’95.

Scott Hamilton Kennedy (THE GARDEN, FOOD EVOLUTION) had begun investigating the global measles epidemic. It was long before anyone had heard of COVID-19. He was filming with top public health officials–including Tony Fauci–as well as rare interviews with anti-vaccine activists who were persuading parents by the millions to refuse vaccines for their children. Then COVID-19 happened. Acting quickly, Kennedy shifted his directorial eye to this once-in-a-century tragedy. Both skeptical and hopeful, SHOT IN THE ARM explores vaccine hesitancy historically and in the context of our modern pandemic. Can we replace cynicism with healthy curiosity and bridge the political divides that make us sick?

Our Storied Health Film and Media Series will include film screenings, campus conversations, and how-to workshops to showcase the power of storytelling as a public health intervention. The screening will begin with a panel discussion and a reception will follow.

Registration (free) is required.

This event is part of Brown Arts IGNITE Series.