Topic: Applied Population Health Practice and Emerging Infectious Diseases: The Response to Viral Hemorrhagic Fever in Rwanda
Abstract: In September 2024, the Rwanda Ministry of Health announced the country’s first ever outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease, after a cluster of health care workers became ill at two of the largest hospitals in Kigali. The national response to the outbreak leveraged the country’s highly integrated and centralized healthcare system, including a large network of community-health workers and enhanced laboratory capacity built during the COVID pandemic. In this session, we will discuss how the structure of the public health system, coupled with effective integration of clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory expertise, successfully contained the outbreak and saved lives, achieving the lowest case fatality ratio ever reported for an outbreak of MVD.
Bio: Dr. Ryan Westergaard is a faculty member of the Division of Infectious Disease within the Department of Medicine. He is a practicing clinician providing patient-centered care for people living with HIV, a clinical investigator working to improve HIV treatment and prevention, and a public health leader serving Wisconsin communities. Dr. Westergaard aims to build bridges between the scientific and educational missions of the University and the public health mission of state, local and tribal health departments, seeking to leverage UW resources for the benefit of the health of all Wisconsin residents.
