International Public Health

Public health issues facing the global community today are as urgent as they are complex. In 2007, an estimated 33.2 million people were living with HIV, 2.5 million were newly infected, and 2.1 million died of AIDS, according to AVERT. Each year, malaria kills more than 1 million people and afflicts as many as 500 million worldwide. The deaths of 1.6 million people are attributed to tuberculosis each year and the risk of new, multi-drug resistant forms of the disease could push this number higher in the future.

These and other global health challenges cannot be addressed separately. The effectiveness of therapies that fight HIV/AIDS, for example, is severely limited in the absence of food and clean water. Malaria and tuberculosis are often the ultimate killers of individuals whose immune systems are weakened by HIV. In addition, consider that in communities of the developing world most affected by infectious disease, a generation of parents, teachers, and entrepreneurs is being lost. In an era of globalization, economic and social instability following human health crises at the local level become economic and security challenges for the global community. This is exacerbated by unrest that is increasingly transportable across borders. Addressing public health challenges requires integrated approaches involving diverse capabilities.

How can public and private institutions with traditional structures and organizational behaviors address public health crises on a global scale? The challenges they face—global competitiveness, health and environmental risks, inadequate infrastructure—can no longer be solved by organizations acting alone. And when they try to reach beyond the boundaries of their own corporation, government agency, or non-governmental organization, there often is no clear pathway to success.

Booz Allen Hamilton partners with public, private, and not-for-profit organizations to take on the complexity of these challenges by helping to navigate the linkages between organizations and individuals, and to understand the dynamics of what we call the global health “megacommunity.” A megacommunity is a system of individual and organizational stakeholders that cannot be controlled by any one member of the group. Booz Allen is at the leading edge of facilitating multi-organizational approaches with multilateral action to address complex, global challenges. We’ve conducted groundbreaking strategic simulations, forged public-private partnerships, performed detailed analyses, and helped mobilize the international business community to respond to the profound needs of the global health megacommunity.

Learn more about how Booz Allen has joined the fight against HIV/AIDS

View video segments below from a March 8, 2006, event at the Ritz Carlton in McLean, VA.

• Overview: RealPlayer | WindowsMedia
• HIV/AIDS Strategic Simulation in India: RealPlayer | WindowsMedia
• The Value of Wargaming in Solving Public Challenges: RealPlayer | WindowsMedia
• Booz Allen's Commitment to the Fight Against HIV/AIDS: RealPlayer | WindowsMedia
• Supporting the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR): RealPlayer | WindowsMedia

 Read our thought leadership and news coverage on orchestrating a multilateral response to international public health crises:

• Reggie Van Lee Talks About the Value of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in Health—Watch an interview with Booz Allen Senior Vice President Reggie Van Lee at the 2008 World Economic Forum.
   
• Public-Private Partnerships Are The Key Resource To Start Tackling The HIV/AIDS Pandemic—This Global Business Coalition-Booz Allen summary report presents the findings of a scenario development workshop following the 2007 Moscow Leaders Forum.
• President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief—Booz Allen established the PEPFAR global supply chain organization by aligning public and private sector organizations to channel desperately needed treatments to AIDS-stricken areas of Africa.
• HIV/AIDS Epidemic Strategic Simulation—A large-scale simulation in India turns the spotlight on the need for public-private collaboration in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.
• Business and AIDS in China—A Strategic Planning Exercise—Foreign and domestic corporations and HIV/AIDS experts seek to develop and launch an Action Plan for Business on HIV/AIDS in China.
• First-Ever Baseline Report of Best Practices Shows Private Sector is Moving toward Universal Access to HIV Treatment—A snapshot of the best practices of multinational companies responding to the pandemic shows them providing more access to healthcare for employees.
• The Global AIDS Crisis—Booz Allen conducted a tabletop simulation at the Aspen Institute Ideas Festival in July 2005 to explore India's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
• How Multinationals Should Fight the War on HIV/AIDS—Companies must join the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS not just because it is socially responsible but because their businesses are at risk.
• Influenza Pandemic Simulation Reveals Challenges in Delivering Essential Services During Widespread Outbreak—At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Booz Allen explored the implications of an influenza pandemic through simulation.
• Influenza Pandemic Simulation—Implications for the United States—An influenza pandemic will be unlike any crisis today’s government or business organizations have ever experienced. The Center for Health Transformation and Booz Allen engaged nearly 100 leaders from the public and private sectors to work through a simulated influenza pandemic.
• Avian Flu: A Test of Collective Integrity—The threat of a pandemic can teach governments, corporations, and nonprofits to prepare for the unthinkable.
• The Megacommunity Manifesto—Public, private, and civil leaders should confront together the problems that none can solve alone.
• The Corporate Response to Malaria: An Actionable Overview—Business has a crucial role to play in fighting malaria, a 50,000 year-old scourge that kills more than one million people each year and is endemic in 101 countries and territories.
• Booz Allen Honored as One of Region's Top Corporate Philanthropists—Booz Allen was honored with three awards at the 8th Annual Greater Washington Business Philanthropy Summit, including the prestigious Excellence in Business Volunteerism Award for 160,000 corporate volunteer hours served in 2004.
• Lending Support to a Foundation that Cares for AIDS Orphans in China—Booz Allen creates a fund-raising strategy to help one non-profit broaden its effort to educate children
• Halting the Spread of HIV/AIDS in Washington, DC—Booz Allen helps nonprofit rebound from a funding shortfall and rethink its strategic plan.