Departmental Affiliations
Center & Institute Affiliations
Contact Info
Research Interests
humanitarian emergencies; conflict; epidemics; refugee; population displacement; public health; communicable diseases; indicators; monitoring and evaluation; epidemiology
Additional Links
Experiences & Accomplishments
My work at CHH/BSPH focuses on operational monitoring approaches and measurement methods for humanitarian settings; infectious disease outbreaks and response in crises; climate change and displacement; and health service delivery in humanitarian settings.For example, I was deployed to support the WHO in the response to the 10th Ebola outbreak in Eastern DRC and to the global COVID-19 pandemic. I also led several projects to improve key performance indicators for crisis responses in humanitarian settings (e.g., direct support to WHO EMRO for regional emergency response, and to WHO Ukraine). I led five case studies on COVID-19 in humanitarian and forced displacement settings aiming at increasing preparedness for future pandemic response, and I am currently investigating the intersection of climate change, conflict, displacement and health in Iraq, Mali and Myanmar. I have been involved as Senior Scientific Coordinator in the CHH-Lancet Commission on Health, Forced Displacement and Conflict. Before joining JHU, I worked at Action Contre la Faim as an Impact Assessment Advisor and Senior Research Advisor.
Honors & Awards
Excellence in International Public Health Practice Award 2023, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Project: Infectious Disease Outbreaks in Humanitarian and Fragile Settings. Partnered with the WHO, UNHCR, and various international nongovernmental organizations to respond to and improve surveillance of outbreaks of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, cholera, and Ebola in humanitarian and fragile settings.
Select Publications
Selected publications
Prager G.*, Hayek H., Fawad M., Kasozi J., Khalif A., Spiegel P., Altare C., “Strategies to maintain health service provision during the COVID-19 pandemic in refugee settings in Jordan and Uganda”, Plos Global Health, April 2025, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0004484
OKeeffe J.*, Salem-Bango L., Desjardins M.R., Lantagne D., Altare C., Kaur G., Heath T., Rangaiya K., Obroh P. OO., Audu A., Lecuyot B., Zoungrana T., Ihemezue E. E., Aye S., Sikder M., Doocy S., Wang Q., Xiao M., Spiegel P.B., “Case-area targeted interventions during a large-scale cholera epidemic: A prospective cohort study in Northeast Nigeria”, PLoS Med, 2024 21(5): e1004404. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004404
Altare C., Kostandova N., OKeeffe J., Hayek H., Fawad M., Khalifa A., Spiegel P., “COVID-19 epidemiology and changes in health service utilization in Azraq and Zaatari refugee camps in Jordan: a retrospective cohort study”, Plos Medicine, May 10, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003993
Altare C., Weiss W., Ramadan M.*, Tappis H., Spiegel P., “Measuring results of humanitarian action: adapting public health indicators to different contexts”, BMC Conflict and Health, Oct 2022, Vol 16 (54), https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-022-00487-5
Altare C., Castelgrande V., Tosha M., Malembaka E. B., Spiegel P., “From insecurity to health service delivery: pathways and system response strategies in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo”, Global Health: Science and Practice, Dec 31, 2021, 9(4):915-927; https://doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-21-00107
Altare C., Bwenge E., Tosha M., Hook C., Ba H., Bikoro S., Scognamiglio T., Tappis H., Pfaffmann J., Balaluka G., Boerma T., Spiegel P., “Health services for women, children and adolescents in conflict-affected settings: experience from North and South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo”, May 27, 2020, Conflict and Health, Vol 14 (31), doi: 10.1186/s13031-020-00265-1