Dr Peta-Anne Zimmerman from Griffith’s School of Nursing and Midwifery recently travelled to the Dead Sea in Jordan to provide valuable scenario-based training on major infectious disease outbreak response to the World Health Organization’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network.
Dr Peta-Anne Zimmerman, Infection prevention and control expert
The Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network is a collaboration of existing institutions and networks, constantly alert and ready to respond during public health emergencies, like Ebola and SARS outbreaks. The Network ensures that the right technical expertise and skills are promptly deployed when national capacities are overwhelmed and an international response operation is needed.
The training has enhanced operational readiness for international outbreak response in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and brought together participants from Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network partner institutions in Bangladesh, Egypt, France, Germany, Islamic Republic of Iran, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Switzerland, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom.
Dr Peta-Anne Zimmerman is an internationally respected clinician, educator and researcher in infection prevention and control. Her experience includes consultancy work with the World Health Organization, AusAID, the Asian Development Bank, the Secretariat of the Pacific Communities, The Albion Centre, and as a member of the World Health Organization SARS Response Team. Her expertise has led her to work extensively in South East Asia and the South Pacific, directly on the development of comprehensive infection prevention and control programs and the integration of public health and acute care response in infectious disease emergencies in low and middle income country settings.
Peta-Anne is the Convenor of the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control’s low- and middle-income Special Interest Group, representative and trainer for the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, and member of the College’s Credentialling and Professional Practices Committee.
She is currently a member of faculty within the Griffith Graduate Infection Prevention and Control Program, and Bachelor of Nursing at Griffith University, a member of the Menzies Health Institute Queensland, and Visiting Research Fellow at the Department of Infection Control at Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service, Australia.
