As projections and fears rise about how COVID-19 will impact sub-saharan Africa, South Africa has instituted an early and strict lockdown. This presentation will examine the current public health situation in South Africa, the government response, and how the virus is being managed. Additionally we will discuss the debate around the continued lockdown in the country and how it will impact the already fragile economy and health infrastructure.

​Jackie Curnick holds a Master of Sustainable Development Practice with a graduate certificate in African Studies from the University of Florida. Her professional work lies at the intersection of community development, environmental health and communications. In 2015 she was awarded a Fulbright grant to work in an at-risk high school in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Since then, she has continued relationships with this country and community. Jackie currently works at UI College of Public Health where she coordinates the community engagement core of the Environmental Health Sciences Research Center, and is a member of the CPH Global Public Health Committee.

Hans House, MD, DTMH is a Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Iowa and serves as the Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Emergency Medicine.   Dr. House attended medical school at USC and completed a combined Emergency Medicine / Internal Medicine residency at UCLA.   He also attended the London School of Tropical Medicine and has a Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.  He has numerous publications on travel medicine, mass-gathering events, and emergency medical education.  He lectures frequently on travel-related and emerging infectious diseases. 

“How the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Uses Innovation to Accelerate Equity in Low and Middle Income Countries”
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Jeff Murray, M.D, is Deputy Director of Family Health in the Discovery and Translational Sciences for The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In addition, he is Board Certified in Pediatrics and Clinical Genetics, and is a human molecular / developmental geneticist and researcher at the University of Iowa.​