Brian Tolleson Brian Tolleson

PART 5.1

In the battle to eradicate smallpox in India in 1974, finding and containing thousands of outbreaks was the key to getting smallpox under control. In mid 1974, the number of new outbreaks was starting to decrease slightly. The strategy of surveillance and containment - which included a massive workforce, tireless efforts, and rewards for identifying new cases - was paying off. But then we started to notice that members of previously vaccinated families were still coming down with smallpox. We should not have been seeing these new cases.

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Data Analytics and Assessment Skills, Health Equity Skills, Community Partnership Skills, Public Health Sciences Skills, Leadership and Systems Thinking Skills Brian Tolleson Data Analytics and Assessment Skills, Health Equity Skills, Community Partnership Skills, Public Health Sciences Skills, Leadership and Systems Thinking Skills Brian Tolleson

PART 5.2

The polio eradication program relied on strong surveillance efforts to inform vaccination efforts. Surveillance teams worldwide constantly searched for cases in which people had limbs that could not be moved and just hung limply, or cases of “flaccid paralysis.”When they found these cases, they would target vaccination to those regions. This was a very effective strategy when polio was widespread, because almost every case of flaccid paralysis was caused by polio. As vaccination coverage increased, cases of paralytic polio plummeted. As cases of flaccid paralysis began to disappear, polio was declared eliminated from many countries and regions. But in many areas polio persisted.

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Data Analytics and Assessment Skills, Communication Skills, Health Equity Skills, Community Partnership Skills, Public Health Sciences Skills, Leadership and Systems Thinking Skills Brian Tolleson Data Analytics and Assessment Skills, Communication Skills, Health Equity Skills, Community Partnership Skills, Public Health Sciences Skills, Leadership and Systems Thinking Skills Brian Tolleson

PART 5.3

Infants were dying in rural health centers because they had complications that couldn't be dealt with in those hospitals. Doctors thought that a way to address this would be to transfer them to a larger hospital with more neonatal capacity. But, when the transfer solution was tried, it turned out that more infants were dying. Lives were not being saved. Babies continued to die because the transportation to the secondary or tertiary facilities took so long. The infants could not survive the trip.

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Data Analytics and Assessment Skills, Policy Development and Program Planning Skills, Community Partnership Skills, Public Health Sciences Skills, Leadership and Systems Thinking Skills Brian Tolleson Data Analytics and Assessment Skills, Policy Development and Program Planning Skills, Community Partnership Skills, Public Health Sciences Skills, Leadership and Systems Thinking Skills Brian Tolleson

PART 5.4

Gun violence takes an extraordinary toll on individuals, families, and communities in the United States. But the NRA has been successful in working through Congress to make sure that much of the critical data for assessing the problem, and finding interventions that work, is not collected, maintained, or made available.

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