Fighting an Invisible Enemy: The Story of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases

Schoub, Barry

ISBN 10: 1776148975 / ISBN 13: 9781776148974

Published by Wits University Press, 2024

About this Item

Seller Inventory # V9781776148974

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Fighting an Invisible Enemy: The Story of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases
• Publisher: Wits University Press
• Publication Date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1776148975
• ISBN 13: 9781776148974
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Fighting an Invisible Enemy narrates the founding in 2002 and growth of the internationally renowned centre of excellence for communicable diseases, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in South Africa. In a continent riven with a panoply of formidable contagious pathogens, the book describes how the nascent NICD travelled a rocky road to maturity. Starting humbly, as did many of its sister public health institutions around the world, the road was strewn with daunting obstacles of financial restrictions, bureaucratic straitjacketing, international isolation during the apartheid era and, in later years, the calumny of governmental AIDS denial. Following the triumph of the eradication of the once-dreaded smallpox, the NICD now plays a crucial role in the global effort to eradicate poliomyelitis. While the country has the misfortune of the largest HIV/AIDS pandemic in the world, the Institute’s HIV research unit has become a world leader. More remote from public notice are the laboratories and support epidemiologists carry out for ongoing surveillance of communicable diseases and the alerts they provide for any signal of an impending outbreak or pandemic. The Institute’s value to public health was clearly shown in the recent Covid-19 pandemic. The maxim that we are only safe when everyone everywhere is safe, underlines the importance of international partnerships and the key role the NICD plays, not only for the country but also for global health. This is a flagship organisation in public health in South Africa and this book paints a vivid portrait of its incredible accomplishments.

About the Author

Barry Schoub is the founding Executive Director of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in South Africa. He is Emeritus Professor of Virology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.