On March 3-4, 2008, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events hosted a workshop titled "Medical Countermeasures Dispensing." The overall objective was to discuss a range of solutions to rapidly provide medical countermeasures to protect large numbers of people prior to or during a public health emergency, such as a bioterrorist attack or infectious disease outbreak. The United States is currently unprepared to confront the range of threats it is facing, such as an intentional anthrax release, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), or pandemic influenza, and it must plan aggressively to counteract the threat of these and other future public health emergencies. Countermeasure dispensing must harness all types of imaginative partnerships between public and private institutions, working together in ways tailored to meet individual community needs. This workshop summary highlights the presentations and subsequent discussion that occurred at the workshop.

On March 3-4, 2008, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events hosted a workshop titled "Medical Countermeasures Dispensing." The overall objective was to discuss a range of solutions to rapidly provide medical countermeasures to protect large numbers of people prior to or during a public health emergency, such as a bioterrorist attack or infectious disease outbreak. The United States is currently unprepared to confront the range of threats it is facing, such as an intentional anthrax release, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), or pandemic influenza, and it must plan aggressively to counteract the threat of these and other future public health emergencies. Countermeasure dispensing must harness all types of imaginative partnerships between public and private institutions, working together in ways tailored to meet individual community needs. This workshop summary highlights the presentations and subsequent discussion that occurred at the workshop.

During public health emergencies such as terrorist attacks or influenza outbreaks, the public health system's ability to save lives could depend on dispensing medical countermeasures such as antibiotics, antiviral medications, and vaccines to a large number of people in a short amount of time. The IOM's Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events held a workshop on November 18, 2009, to provide an overview of current threats, recent progress made in the public health system for distributing and dispensing countermeasures, and remaining vulnerabilities.

"This is a clearly written, easy-to-read first edition on a necessary subject in an ever-changing world of disaster and humanitarian crisis...Not only theoretical, this book is also extremely practical and can be utilized by the various stakeholders involved in public health and emergency response. This book should sit on the shelf of every public health department and be made available for frontline workers and policymakers alike." --Doody's Review Service, 3 stars Public Health Emergencies provides a current overview of public health emergency preparedness and response principles with case studies highlighting lessons learned from recent natural and man-made disasters and emergencies. Designed for graduate and advanced undergraduate public health students, this book utilizes the 10 essential services of public health as performance standards and foundational competencies from the Council on Education for Public Health to assess public health systems. It emphasizes the roles and responsibilities of public health careers in state and local health departments as well as other institutions and clarifies their importance during health-related emergencies in the community. Written by prominent experts, including health professionals and leaders on the frontlines, this textbook provides the framework and lessons for understanding the public health implications of disasters, emergencies, and other catastrophic events, stressing applied understanding for students interested in pursuing public health preparedness roles. Practical in its approach, Part One begins with an introduction to the fundamentals of public health emergency preparedness with chapters on community readiness, all-hazards preparedness design, disaster risk assessments, and emergency operation plans. Part Two covers a range of public health emergency events, including hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, disease outbreaks and pandemics, accidents and chemical contamination, nuclear and radiological hazards, extreme heat events, and water supply hazards. The final part addresses special considerations, such as how the law serves as a foundation to public health actions; preparedness considerations for persons with disabilities, access, and functional needs; children and disasters; and a chapter evaluating emerging and evolving threats. Throughout, chapters convey the roles of front-line, supervisory, and leadership personnel of the many stakeholders involved in preparedness, response, and recovery efforts to demonstrate decision-making in action. Key Features: Provides the fundamentals of public health emergency preparedness and response with detailed case studies of recent natural and man-made disasters Explains the roles of administrators, planners, first responders, and other stakeholders involved in emergency response Covers major disaster planning and preparedness topics such as weather-related emergencies, bioterrorism, infectious disease outbreaks including COVID-19, wildfires, radiological and nuclear exposure, and many more Crosswalks the 10 essential public health services and foundational public health competencies illustrated in case examples Purchase includes digital access for use on most mobile devices or computers

Emergency managers and officials have seen a tremendous increase in the planning responsibilities placed on their shoulders over the last decade. Crisis Management and Emergency Planning: Preparing for Today's Challenges supplies time-tested insights to help communities and organizations become better prepared to cope with natural and manmade disas

CDC has now published four preparedness reports to demonstrate how federal investments are improving the nation's ability to respond to public health threats and emergencies. This report is an update to CDC's 2010 state-by-state report; it presents available data that demonstrate trends and document progress in two important preparedness activities, laboratory capabilities and response readiness planning. These data do not represent all preparedness activities occurring in states and localities. As other data become available, they will be included in future reports. Fact sheets in this report present data on activities occurring from 2007 to 2010 in the 50 states and 4 localities (Chicago, Los Angeles County, the District of Columbia, and New York City) directly funded by CDC's PHEP cooperative agreement.

The 2009 H1N1 pandemic tested the limits of the public health emergency preparedness systems in the US and abroad. The successes and failures from this pandemic remain relevant, particularly as pathogens like MER-CoV and Ebola continue to proliferate. As the world's population continues to travel farther and with more frequency than ever before, the lessons of 2009 stand as important touchstones for future public health infrastructures and interventions. The Public Health Response to 2009 H1N1: A Systems Perspective draws lessons from the public health system's response to the influenza pandemic, offering a collection of chapters that are highly relevant to all public health emergencies. Not simply a historical case study, this analysis employs a systems perspective that encompasses both government health agencies and community-based entities such as care providers, schools, and media. The chapters demonstrate rigorous qualitative research approaches that can be used to analyze public health system responses to both pathogens and a wide variety of other public health emergencies. With contributions from a broad panel of experts, the book will be useful for anyone seeking to learn from pH1N1 and to see public health systems in current, specific contexts. The Public Health Response to 2009 H1N1 draws important insights from this global event and will help improve public health emergency preparedness systems for future pandemics.

If terrorists released Bacillus anthracis over a large city, hundreds of thousands of people could be at risk of the deadly disease anthrax-caused by the B. anthracis spores-unless they had rapid access to antibiotic medical countermeasures (MCM). Although plans for rapidly delivering MCM to a large number of people following an anthrax attack have been greatly enhanced during the last decade, many public health authorities and policy experts fear that the nation's current systems and plans are insufficient to respond to the most challenging scenarios, such as a very large-scale anthrax attack. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response commissioned the Institute of Medicine to examine the potential uses, benefits, and disadvantages of strategies for repositioning antibiotics. This involves storing antibiotics close to or in the possession of the people who would need rapid access to them should an attack occur. Prepositioning Antibiotics for Anthrax reviews the scientific evidence on the time window in which antibiotics successfully prevent anthrax and the implications for decision making about prepositioning, describes potential prepositioning strategies, and develops a framework to assist state, local, and tribal public health authorities in determining whether prepositioning strategies would be beneficial for their communities. However, based on an analysis of the likely health benefits, health risks, and relative costs of the different prepositioning strategies, the book also develops findings and recommendations to provide jurisdictions with some practical insights as to the circumstances in which different prepositioning strategies may be beneficial. Finally, the book identifies federal- and national-level actions that would facilitate the evaluation and development of prepositioning strategies. Recognizing that communities across the nation have differing needs and capabilities, the findings presented in this report are intended to assist public health officials in considering the benefits, costs, and trade-offs involved in developing alternative prepositioning strategies appropriate to their particular communities.

This new Handbook addresses the state of the art in the application of operations research models to problems in preventing terrorist attacks, planning and preparing for emergencies, and responding to and recovering from disasters. The purpose of the book is to enlighten policy makers and decision makers about the power of operations research to help organizations plan for and respond to terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and public health emergencies, while at the same time providing researchers with one single source of up-to-date research and applications. The Handbook consists of nine separate chapters: Using Operations Research Methods for Homeland Security Problems Operations Research and Homeland Security: Overview and Case Study of Pandemic Influenza Deployed Security Games for Patrol Planning Interdiction Models and Applications Time Discrepant Shipments in Manifest Data Achieving Realistic Levels of Defensive Hedging Mitigating the Risk of an Anthrax Attack with Medical Countermeasures Service Networks for Public Health Preparedness and Large-scale Disaster Relief Efforts Disaster Response Planning in the Private Sector

The severe budget cuts by fed., state, and local governments are leaving public health (PH) departments understaffed and without the basic capabilities required to respond to crises. Nearly 10 years ago during the 9/11 and anthrax tragedies, it became clear the PH system was out-of-date to face modern health threats -- and an historic investment was made to help upgrade the system. Significant progress was made to improve how we prevent, identify, and contain new disease outbreaks and bioterrorism threats and respond to the aftermath of natural disasters. Now, the economic situation is putting almost a decade of gains at risk. The latest budget cuts will exacerbate the vulnerable areas in U.S. emergency health preparedness. A print on demand report.