GEM Health System Strengthening

2026 | Rwanda | Partners: Jhpiego, Rwanda Biomedical Center

In partnership with the Rwanda Biomedical Center, collaborating academic institutions, and the RISE Rwanda country team (see GEM Workforce Training), CGEC has undertaken a series of targeted, high-impact engagements in support of the Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) post-outbreak action plan. These included supporting a national after-action review and the design and implementation of tabletop exercises structured to strengthen multi-sectoral and multidisciplinary coordination for the rapid identification, stabilization, and containment of high-consequence pathogens.

This work has resulted in the development of a suite of training materials that are openly accessible through Open Global Health Security (OpenGHS). These resources focus on both clinical case management of patients with MVD and broader health system preparedness activities to support future outbreak response. Importantly, these efforts are closely aligned with national investments to capacitate 37 fever clinics across Rwanda, ensuring that patients presenting with undifferentiated febrile illness can be rapidly screened and triaged for high-risk infectious diseases.

2024| Global| Partners: Canadian Red Cross Society

In light of the increasing number and scale of emergencies in recent years, the Canadian Red Cross (CRC) Society commissioned an external evaluation of their Emergency Response Units (ERUs). The evaluation explored CRC health surge capacity in emergencies in an effort to effectively meet humanitarian health needs and maximize the impact of future health responses. In partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ (IFRC), the deployment and head quarter teams were interviewed to evaluate health surge support in humanitarian emergencies, including Clinical Health and Public Health ERUs, from 2015-2019. The primary focus was to understand what areas of project management could improve local capacity building, how to better leverage health services from National Societies (NS), and how to optimize long term impact of ERUs. Secondary goals looked at inclusivity and gender-specific considerations among deployment units and within project implementation.