Download or read book The Defense Department's Enduring Contributions to Global Health written by James B. Peake and published by CSIS Reports. This book was released on 2011-06 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the spring of 2010, CSIS launched a year-long, independent examination of the U.S. Army and Navy overseas medical research laboratories. The impetus was an awareness that despite the laboratories' impressive scientific accomplishments and contributions to U.S. national interests and global health, they are not well understood outside of research circles and consequently find themselves undervalued in today's environment of fiscal austerity. They stand at the intersection of health and security, a topic of increased importance to U.S. approaches to global health. The CSIS project aimed to assess the laboratories' contributions and achievements; examine the factors that constrain their performance; and propose reforms that will put them on the best course to continued success. It included considerable background research, three formal meetings of experts, travel to five overseas laboratories, and interviews with dozens of laboratory researchers and collaborators. This report lays out the project's research, conclusions, and recommendations. The laboratories contribute fundamentally to U.S. military readiness, their core function, through medical research tied directly to the protection of deployed personnel. In addition, their development of products such as vaccines, therapies, medical devices and new prophylactic drugs brings shared health benefits to the world at large, strengthens the scientific community in the host country, and attrafts other U.S. government agencies as well as multiple university, business and foundation partners, eager to advance field trials and other scientific research in an endemic disease environment. At the same time, the laboratories contribute substantially to related scientific activities, most notably global detection of emerging and re-emerging disease threats, while helping to build military-to-military collaboration and local medical and scientific capacity. They are also active and valued participants in U.S. Embassy country teams, the in-country face of U.S. diplomacy.