Ready or Not? Protecting the Public's Health From Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism, 2011

Highlights examples of preparedness programs and capacities at risk of federal budget cuts or elimination, examines state and local public health budget cuts, reviews ten years of progress and shortfalls, and outlines policy issues and recommendations

Health Problems Heat Up: Climate Change and the Public's Health

Examines the health effects of climate change, the needed public health response, concerns for communities at high risk, and state planning and funding for climate change assessments and strategies. Makes federal, state, and local policy recommendations

International Society for Disease Surveillance Conference 2011: Building the Future of Public Health Surveillance: Building the Future of Public Health Surveillance

Daniel Reidpath - ORCID: 0000-0002-8796-0420 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8796-04204pubpub1117

PHINews

In and around PHIN -- Epi InfoTM goes open source -- 5th NHIN Forum showcases biosurveillance data exchange -- Notes from the field: AIDS relief and informatics -- NCPHI and NCIRD: Collaboration for critical events -- New NCPHI website launched -- PHINews Feedback

Improving public health preparedness : strengthening biosurveillance systems for enhanced situational awareness

This report is designed to aid state, territorial, tribal, and local public health leaders as they improve their capacity to achieve situational awareness during a public health emergency. We intend this report to serve as a concise reference work public health leaders can use to help design and manage biosurveillance systems to be used during an anticipated public health emergency. We hope public health staff will find it helpful in answering the question, \u201cWhat information do I need to support decision making during a public health emergency and how do I get this information?\u201d To address this question, we focused on information needs for situational awareness using three scenarios: a mass gathering, a natural disaster, or a large outbreak.During these events, information on population health status, health risks, and health services must be readily available to those managing the public health response to the event (Figure 1). This report lists \u201ccore\u201d information needed to effectively manage the public health aspects of an event such as an outbreak, a natural disaster, or a mass gathering. Furthermore, the report describes guiding principles and system capabilities that assure surveillance information systems meet relevant standards, while addressing the need for flexibility to adapt to unique and changing circumstances.We intend for the report\u2019s findings and recommendations to be used by CDC grantees to prioritize activities related to the use of Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) funding (as well as funding from other CDC cooperative agreements) in the development, maintenance, and optimization of biosurveillance systems. In particular, we intend that our findings and recommendations will delineate specific action steps which will complement and supplement existing guidance contained in the recently developed PHEP capabilities.This research was carried out by the North Carolina Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center (NCPERRC) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill\u2019s Gillings School of Global Public Health and was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Grant 1PO1 TP 000296.BiosurvReport_092013.pdfgrant 1PO1 TP00029

Health Care for Veterans: Suicide Prevention

[Excerpt] Congress has attempted to address the problem of suicide among veterans through legislation and oversight hearings, both on prevention of veteran suicide specifically and on veteran mental health more broadly. A task as challenging as preventing suicide requires collaboration among federal agencies, state and local governments, other organizations, communities, and individuals. This report, however, focuses on activities of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The VHA’s approach to suicide prevention is based in part on the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, which involves multiple federal departments, including the VA, Defense (DOD), and Education (ED), as well as several agencies within Health and Human Services (HHS). While this CRS report focuses on suicide prevention efforts of the VHA, activities of other entities are discussed as they relate to VHA activities. This CRS report begins with a brief overview of the public health framework for suicide prevention, which forms the basis for both the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and the VHA’s approach to suicide prevention. The three subsequent parts of the report correspond to the three major components of the public health framework: (1) suicide surveillance, (2) suicide risk factors and protective factors, and (3) suicide prevention interventions. The final section addresses potential issues for Congress, and the Appendix summarizes provisions of public laws addressing suicide prevention among veterans

Stronger Partnerships for Safer Food: An Agenda for Strengthening State and Local Roles in the Nation's Food Safety System

Examines federal, state, and local agencies' responsibilities, strengths, and weaknesses in ensuring food safety. Recommends systemwide reforms to enhance state and local roles and improve surveillance, outbreak response, and regulation and inspection

Biological Terrorism, Emerging Diseases, and National Security

Examines the extent to which bioterrorist attacks have proven or may prove difficult to distinguish from outbreaks of emerging diseases. Makes recommendations for how the U.S. could better prepare to meet the threat of biological terrorism

National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures.Chemical Emergencies Work .Group final report

"The National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures is a collaborative project, supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). The National Conversation vision is for chemicals to be used and managed in ways that are safe and healthy for all people. The project's goal is to develop an action agenda with clear, achievable recommendations that can help government agencies, tribes, and other organizations strengthen their efforts to protect the public from harmful chemical exposures. The National Conversation Leadership Council will author the action agenda, utilizing input from six project work groups and members of the public who chose to participate in web dialogues and community conversations and offer comments. National Conversation work groups were formed to research and make recommendations on the following six crosscutting public health and chemical exposures issues: monitoring, scientific understanding, policies and practices, chemical emergencies, serving communities, and education and communication. This report is the product of the Chemical Emergencies work group's deliberations. While issued to the National Conversation Leadership Council, the work group hopes that this report will be of value to others in a position to act on the recommendations contained herein. CDC and ATSDR worked with several groups to manage the National Conversation, including RESOLVE, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the effective use of consensus building in public decision-making, the American Public Health Association, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, and the National Association of County and City Health Officials. These organizations and others helped ensure that a broad range of groups and individuals were engaged throughout this collaborative process, including government agencies, professional organizations, American Indian/Alaska Native tribes (AI/AN), community and non-profit organizations, health professionals, business and industry leaders, and members of the public" - p. 1"November 2010."Mode of access: Internet.System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.Title from title screen (viewed on December 4, 2010).Includes bibliographical references (p. 29-31)

The Public health response to biological and chemical terrorism: interim planning guidance for state public health officials

Title from title screen (viewed Jan. 13, 2004)."July 2001."Mode of access: Internet from CDC web site. Address as of 12/18/04: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/Documents/Planning/PlanningGuidance.PDF.Includes bibliographical references