Rapid Outbreak Response
Helping partner countries detect, contain, and recover from disease outbreaks at the source to protect national interests and global health security before threats escalate
Our Approach
At Project HOPE, we believe the fastest and most cost-effective way to protect communities from infectious disease threats is to detect and contain outbreaks at their source. Through our partnerships, we help host governments strengthen policy, implementation, and data use, turning bilateral health agreements into operational capacity.
Around the world, Project HOPE:
- Activates local partners for first-mile detection in places that formal health systems cannot reach
- Strengthens national outbreak detection through One Health laboratory networks, decentralized molecular diagnostics, and AI-enabled epidemic intelligence from open sources
- Operates performance-based compacts that align partners around measurable response milestones such as 7-1-7
- Mobilizes U.S. firms in diagnostics, logistics, and digital health in alignment with host-government priorities
- Supports technical teams at national public health institutes and emergency operations centers, with One Health rapid response units deployable within days of an alert
14 million
dengue cases reported globally in 2024
As dengue hits record highs, outbreaks once confined to the tropics are now transmitting within the U.S. By combining host-government leadership with American technology, we can cost-effectively contain outbreaks at the source.
490,700
cholera cases across 34 countries in 2024
Case-fatality rates jumped 126% in 2024 and concentrated in conflict-affected settings with broken health systems. Outbreaks like these can destabilize entire regions and strain U.S.-funded humanitarian responses.
134,000
mpox cases recorded across 13 African countries in 2025
Mpox’s rapid trajectory across Africa triggered two global health emergency declarations in just two years. It serves as a stark reminder of how swiftly regional outbreaks escalate into international threats in the modern travel era.
The Context
Past outbreaks, such as SARS, H1N1, MERS, Ebola, COVID-19, mpox, and Marburg, have killed millions, disrupted lives and livelihoods, and cost the global economy trillions. The pace is accelerating. In 2024 and 2025 alone, the world faced simultaneous emergencies of mpox, dengue, cholera, Marburg, and measles. The United States has signed 32 bilateral health agreements committing partner countries to the global 7-1-7 outbreak detection and response standard (detect in 7 days, notify in 1, respond in 7), but most of those countries cannot yet meet it. Closing that gap at the source is the most direct way to protect American health security.
Where We Strengthen Outbreak Response
- Ethiopia: Coordinated the U.S. government response to Ethiopia’s first-ever Marburg outbreak in November 2025
- Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): Concurrent response to Ebola, mpox, cholera, and anthrax outbreaks
- Uganda: Cross-border Ebola response with the DRC in 2026
- Rwanda: Rapid containment of the first-ever Marburg outbreak in 2024, which validated the 7-1-7 model
- Philippines: Performance-based outbreak response model for the Indo-Pacific
- China: Early on-the-ground COVID-19 response
