Infectious diseases are not just a result of, but also a cause of, poverty (see Box 8). In recognition of this fact, the World Bank, a leading global development lender, signed a memorandum of understanding with CDC in February 2001, to intensify joint efforts to prevent and control diseases that take a heavy toll in developing countries.

Under the agreement, CDC and the World Bank will collaborate on a broad range of global health activities, related to nutrition, maternal and child health, endemic diseases such as HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria, public health, health surveillance, health policy and statistics, research, and healthcare technology. Over the next year, for example, CDC will transfer technical experts to the World Bank to help design, implement, and evaluate projects to control the spread of malaria in Africa and promote worldwide use of vaccines against many childhood diseases.

The memorandum will also facilitate previously established collaborations between the World Bank and CDC, including an ongoing project to upgrade the surveillance infrastructure for infectious diseases in Argentina and Brazil, from the local to the national level. That effort includes

• Training public health workers in epidemiology, management, and laboratory science

• Establishing electronic reporting networks and sentinel sites for disease surveillance

• Enhancing laboratory capacity

• Strengthening outbreak response

• Instituting measures to prevent the spread of TB and other priority diseases