Listen to Michael T. Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, and author of the recent Foreign Affairs article, "Unprepared for a Pandemic", discuss the current threat of the pandemic flu as part of CFR's State and Local Officials Conference Call Series.

Learn more about CFR's State and Local Officials Initiative.

This report from the United States Institute of Peace and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH) Task Force on Public Health and Conflict details the results of a symposium on the implications of the North Korean famine of the mid-1990s.

A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services document providing guidance in the event of an outbreak of pandemic influenza.

As avian flu continues its global—and westward—spread, experts say the world remains unprepared for a possible pandemic.

A discussion of Garrett’s newest Foreign Affairs article:

A flood of public and private money has started to flow to the developing world, funding a vast array of efforts to combat AIDS, TB, malaria, and other killer diseases. Unfortunately, writes Garrett, much of that “is leaking away without result,” doing little to improve basic public health on the ground.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports on implications of climate change for coastal systems and low-lying areas and six important policy-relevant issues that have emerged.

Trumping all previous estimates, one German climatologist believes global sea levels could rise as much as 140 centimeters by the end of the century. That could mean catastrophic hurricanes and floods. But other experts discount the significance of the new model.

The World Health Organization's Department of Public Health and Environment has prepared a basic facts sheet about the radioactive Polonium-210 as a possible health concern.

This Congressional Research Service report examines the history and social consequences of the AIDS epidemic in Africa and discusses its implications for U.S. foreign policy.

A new paper in the New England Journal of Medicine looks at the evolution and spread of the H5N1 (avian flu) virus.

Governments increased funding and international cooperation to limit the spread of avian flu. But the unpredictability of a potential pandemic raises concerns over global preparedness.

Laurie Garrett, CFR senior fellow for global health, says the world is in a better position to handle a potential avian flu pandemic than it was two years ago. But she warns that we still don't have "a toolkit that can stop this virus from circulating" if it evolves to allow easy human-to-human transmission.

OxFam International has issued a report criticizing the failure to implement the Doha Declaration on Public Health.

CSIS conducted a survey of key policymakers to ascertain their perceptions about the threat of biological weapons.

Botswana’s President Festus G. Mogae speaks with CFR members about the use of diamonds in development and the problem of HIV/AIDS in his country.

While avian flu makes headlines, overlooked diseases like polio and tuberculosis are making a comeback. Hurdles ranging from misinformation to lack of funding are preventing their control.

AMR Research conducted a survey of multinational corporations to assess their readiness for a pandemic. Of the 207 companies surveyed, 43% have policies in place to analyze risk in the event of a pandemic, while another 49% have policies under evaluation.