April to June

More than 100 people focused on COVID-19 under the leadership of the Prevent Epidemics team, with many more team members addressing COVID-19 through our core programs.

In the subsequent months, the coalition distributed thousands of naloxone kits and fentanyl test strips primarily through phone line orders and mail delivery; helped to organize a coalition of more than 20 community organizations working together to advocate for greater access to harm reduction programs; and conducted harm reduction trainings for individuals, law enforcement organizations and health care institutions.

Resolve to Save Lives’ cardiovascular health team contributed to the development of the “WHO Technical Specifications for Automated Non-Invasive Blood Pressure Measuring Devices With Cuff”.

“Governor Wolf’s decision to release vulnerable people is a reasoned and humane step toward saving lives. We hope and expect that Pennsylvania will continue to implement critical decarceration measures to avert a devastating and preventable prison pandemic.”

Vital’s commentary in the Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease journal detailed how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting implementation of STREAM and other TB clinical trials, and how the STREAM trial’s timely and effective response ensured that no trial participant experienced treatment interruption, despite significant supply chain disruptions. The experience of the STREAM trial against the backdrop of the pandemic highlights the importance of contingency planning and risk mitigation both before and during unanticipated crises.

The Resolve to Save Lives team produced one-page fact sheets for both patients and primary health care providers on how to reduce risk of COVID-19 transmission, which were translated into more than 15 languages and disseminated by partners around the world. The team also created “Safe Route to Care: Primary health care redesign to protect chronic disease patients” and “Leveraging Technology to Improve Health Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond,” key resources in the Resolve to Save Lives Playbook for adaptive response to COVID-19.

To counter the flurry of media reports citing flawed studies that suggested nicotine can prevent COVID-19, STOP issued a statement and a critique of the studies. Other 2020 reports revealed the industry’s efforts to lure younger customers, mislead policymakers and the public and interfere in policy, and called for the sport of Formula 1 to stop accepting tobacco sponsorship. STOP and its research was mentioned in 251 media stories spanning more than 30 countries, and its website received more than 350,000 page views, with a major increase from low- and middle-income countries including Mexico, the Philippines, Brazil and India.

CNN reported that than 2 million people in the U.S. struggle with opioid use disorder and quoted Vital’s Daliah Heller on how COVID-19 can trigger drug use along with a “great potential for overdose.”

The digital platform offers governments and nongovernmental organizations  access to hundreds of media resources in more than 25 languages, including original material vetted by experts, curated materials from leading organizations around the globe, and unique technical guidance that can be used to create campaigns that empower and protect people throughout the COVID-19 response. The platform provides examples of clear and strong messages—and adaptations into radio scripts, illustrations and YouTube videos—that can be adapted by governments and organizations to fight the spread of the coronavirus.

Vital Strategies conducted 12 focus groups with 88 participants in New York City and Philadelphia who identified as part of the African American, English- and Spanish-speaking Latinx, and Black immigrant communities. The results were used in the development of the “Be the One” campaign and Contact Tracing Community Messaging Toolkit, both designed to support ongoing activities by health departments, community organizations and trusted messengers to promote the value of contact tracing as part of the effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The Healthy Food Policy Fellowship was launched in 2020 to combat an important barrier to addressing global obesity—the dearth of research expertise to guide national food policies. Funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the fellowship provides complete funding to Ph.D. or LL.M. candidates who aim to foster healthier food environments through the use of effective policies, and who reside in one of the program’s six focus countries: Barbados, Brazil, Colombia, Jamaica, Mexico and South Africa.

The first session of Leading Through Crisis: Reducing the Impact of COVID-19 in Latin America and Africa, a six-part, virtual learning series, was launched for city leaders in 18 countries across the two continents. The collaboration between the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative and the Partnership for Healthy Cities provided mayors with science-based guidance, crisis leadership tools and resources to combat the devastating health, social and economic impacts of the pandemic. Topics include managing the public health emergency, navigating fiscal challenges imposed by the pandemic and preparing for recovery in the current global economy.

Resolve to Save Lives supported the federal Ministry of Health and WHO to develop and launch the program, which began enrolling patients in 62 health centers and ten primary hospitals across seven regions of the country.