Building Capacity for National Public Health Institutes
Building Capacity for National Public Health Institutes

Overview
With funding from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we are implementing the Building Capacity for National Public Health Institutes program in collaboration with global research and development nonprofit Battelle.
Although specific mandates vary from country to country, national public health institutes (NPHIs) are integral to robust public health systems. NPHIs provide surveillance for emergency preparedness and outbreak response and are the focal point for national and international partnerships, sharing critical information about emerging diseases and providing evidence-based leadership during a crisis.
The program aims to support national governments to strengthen NPHIs’ ability to coordinate across government, the private sector, and civil society to carry out essential public health functions. By building NPHIs’ human, financial, technological, and physical resources to provide science-based leadership and coordination, we will reinforce their management capability to operate effectively and efficiently.
Simultaneously, we will develop an online, multicountry learning program to strengthen the leadership and management capacity of CDC alumni and local leaders. This learning program will equip them to effectively manage an epidemic response and enable better stewardship of scarce resources, more transparent decision making, prioritization of urgent activities, and collaborative learning and adaptation.
National Public Health Institutes: A Critical Network to Monitor, Prevent, and Respond to Epidemics
Strengthening National Public Health Institutes (NPHIs) to Effectively Prevent and Respond to Health Threats

Rudi Thétard
Project Director; Global Technical Lead
Project Contact
Dr. Rudi Thétard, a physician and South Africa native, has more than two decades’ experience leading our complex programs in Africa, including MSH’s current USAID Malawi ONSE Health Activity (2016-21), the USAID African Strategies for Health Project (2011-16), USAID’s Basic Survival for Institutionalizing Child Survival (BASICS III, 2007-11) in Malawi (which supported Malawi in becoming one of the few African countries to achieve MDG 4), and the Malawi Reducing Childhood Morbidity and Strengthening Healthcare Systems Project (2005-07). Dr. Thétard served for eight years as a district medical officer in South Africa, managing 28 fixed and mobile primary health care clinics. Throughout his career, Dr. Thétard has collaborated effectively with USAID and a wide range of governmental, civil society, and implementing partners. He earned an MPH from the Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine (Belgium) and bachelor’s degrees in medicine and surgery from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Donors & Partners
Donors
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Partners
Battelle