Agroterrorism Workshop

The 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), Reducing the Burden of Injury, notes that in the USA injury prevention is the only major field of public health where sustained training programs do not exist. In 2001, the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (CDC Injury Center) asked the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) to determine the extent to which schools of public health are currently providing and supporting injury research and training. ASPH conducted a baseline assessment on the extent of injury research, faculty expertise, curricula, and training in schools of public health. Injury prevention was defined as activities to prevent, ameliorate, treat, and/or reduce injury-related disability and death. The definition of injury covered two general categories: general injuries -- unintentional (including poisoning, spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries, motor vehicle injuries, falls, fires, pedestrian-related injuries, water-related injuries, and natural disasters), and violence (child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, sexual violence, suicide, youth violence, and terrorism). The assessment excluded injuries that occur within occupational and/or industrial environments. ASPH queried all department chairs and each dean of academic affairs at the 33 accredited schools of public health in 2002-2003. Overall, 30 of the 33 member schools (93%) responded. Two different surveys were administered to provide information on the breadth and scope of injury activity. Thirteen schools of public health operate a total of 17 formal injury structures, such as a center, institute, office, or division. Of the 163 courses identified, only 35 (21%) have injury or violence prevention as the primary focus. Such courses are primarily offered through the departments of health behavior/health education (28%) and epidemiology (25%). Three schools require an injury course for injury-related doctoral programs. No school required an injury course for any master's degree. Respondents noted the top three needs of schools of public health to better prepare students and current practitioners as: (1) recruitment of faculty with injury expertise; (2) student training funds; and (3) faculty development funds. Further, the top three barriers to better promoting the principles of injury prevention and control mirrored the top three needs: (1) insufficient faculty, (2) limited courses, and (3) lack of student training funds. The main types of funders for injury research in schools of public health are federal agencies and foundations. Three federal agencies -- the CDC, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) -- provided the most ongoing support to two or more schools of public health between January 1999 and July 2002 (30%). Two foundations, the MacArthur Foundation and the David & Lucille Packard Foundation, provided support to two or more schools of public health between January 1999 and July 2002. Language: en

First Line of Defense

Registration of ‘Tribute’ Wheat

Registration of ‘Price’ Barley

Regional Public Health Training Centers: An Essential Partner in Workforce Development.

This report provides guidelines for state health departments interested in occupational mortality surveillance. Since 1980, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has promoted cooperative occupational health surveillance activities with state health departments. This report draws from our experience with the states to date, providing guidelines on data collection, data processing, analyses, and follow-up. Methods for improving data quality are described, coding procedures are discussed, and statistical measures are compared and contrasted. The report includes a lengthy reference list and a list of contact persons at NIOSH and in the state health departments. This report represents a continuing NIOSH commitment to state health departments in their efforts to promote occupational safety and health programs.

Objectives—The objective of the Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) program is to prevent traumatic occupational fatalities in the United States by identifying and investigating work situations at high risk...

The South Central Center for Public Health Preparedness (SCCPHP) is a collaboration among the schools of public health at Tulane University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the state health departments in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The SCCPHP provides competency-based training via distant delivery methods to prepare public health workers to plan for and rapidly respond to public health threats and emergency events. This article presents the training system model used by the SCCPHP to assess, design, develop, implement, and evaluate training that is both competency driven and practice based. The SCCPHP training system model ensures a standardized process is used across public health occupations and geographic regions, while allowing for tailoring of the content to meet the specific training needs of the workforce in the respective state and local health departments. Further, the SCCPHP training system model provides evidence of the reciprocal nature between research and practice needed to advance the area of emergency preparedness training and workforce development initiatives in public health.

Surveillance reports have shown that reported sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are increasing. The provision of partner services is an effective tool for preventing and reducing the spread of STDs. We examined partner services provided by health departments and assessed for associations with jurisdiction size, STD morbidity, and region. We used stratified random sampling to select 668 local health departments (LHDs) and selected all (n = 50) state health departments (SHDs). Rao-Scott χ2 analyses were performed to examine partner services by health department type (SHD vs. LHD), region, jurisdiction size (LHD only), and STD morbidity (LHD only). Approximately 49.0% of LHDs and 88.0% of SHDs responded to the survey. Most LHDs (81.6%) and SHDs (79.5%) provided partner services for some STDs (P = 0.63). Compared with SHDs, a higher proportion of LHDs provided expedited partner therapy for chlamydia (66.8% vs. 34.2%, P < 0.01) and gonorrhea (39.3% vs. 22.9%, P = 0.09). Partner service staff performed other activities such as conducting enhanced surveillance activities (23.0% of LHDs, 34.3% of SHDs; P = 0.20) and participating in outbreak response and emergency preparedness (84.8% of LHDs, 80.0% of SHDs; P = 0.51). Associations were found when partner services were stratified by health department type, jurisdiction size, STD morbidity, and region. All LHDs in high-morbidity areas provided partner services and 45.4% performed serologic testing of syphilis contacts in the field. A majority of STD programs in LHDs and SHDs provide a variety of partner services and partner service-related activities. It is imperative to continue monitoring the provision of partner services to understand how critical public health needs are being met.

Surveillance of cause-specific mortality patterns by occupation and industry through the use of death certificate records is a simple and relatively inexpensive approach to the generation of leads as to potential occupational disease problems. Researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have been working with the National Center for Health Statistics, other federal agencies, and state health departments on a number of programs to foster the development of standardized, routine coding of occupation and industry entries on death certificates by state health departments. Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia are now doing such coding. These data are being analyzed currently by investigators at NIOSH and at individual state health departments for the purpose of hypothesis generation on occupation-disease relationships. The proportionate mortality ratio method is the predominant method being used, as appropriate denominator data are not generally available. This type of surveillance is particularly useful for the study of occupation and industry groups for which it is difficult to assemble cohorts, such as groups that are predominantly non-union and in small workplaces. Limitations of this surveillance include its inappropriateness for monitoring those occupational diseases which are not often fatal, and the limited scope and accuracy of death certificate information.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) asked the RAND Corporation to develop an approach, reported here, for estimating the economic benefit of NIOSH research, using three case studies. The cases provide concrete illustrations of the ways in which NIOSH research could affect worker health and safety practices and outcomes, as well as some initial estimates of the economic benefit associated with those impacts. The authors selected the case studies to illustrate variation in types of NIOSH research and in intended users. The first case study examines research to develop, test, and support implementation of engineering control measures to limit exposure to silica among road construction workers. This case study offers an example of NIOSH's intervention and surveillance research and provision of technical assistance. The second case study involves two NIOSH studies that strengthened the evidence base about the linkage between firefighting activities and increased risk of certain cancers among firefighters. This case study provides an example of etiological and exposure surveillance research, coupled with an intervention study. The third case study involves a NIOSH evaluation of the effectiveness of Ohio's Safety Intervention Grant Program in reducing the prevalence and costs of workplace injuries. This case study illustrates intervention research targeting government organizations. The first and second case studies led to the development of control technologies, and all three case studies involved dissemination and stakeholder engagement efforts that promoted the adoption of risk-reducing technologies and practices.

The problem of children being injured as a result of living, visiting or working on afarm has been recognized for several decades. Although many individuals and groupshave crusaded for the prevention of childhood agricultural injuries over the years, untilrecently, there has not been a national coordinated effort. In fiscal year (FY) 1997 theU.S. Congress provided targeted funding to the National Institute for OccupationalSafety and Health (NIOSH) to implement a National Childhood Agricultural InjuryPrevention Initiative. NIOSH goals for the initiative are to fill critical data needs;establish an infrastructure which facilitates the use of data to develop and improveupon prevention efforts; encourage the use of effective prevention strategies by theprivate and public sectors; and, to increase the involvement of the private sector in bothprevention and research efforts. A panel of experts in agricultural injury surveillancewas convened to evaluate existing surveillance programs and identify the mostpromising strategies for surveillance. NIOSH has funded research grants in a numberof priority areas, including: etiology; outcomes of youth farm work and injuries;intervention strategies; and, evaluation of commonly used educational or trainingprograms. Through a cooperative agreement, the National Childrens Center for Ruraland Agricultural Health and Safety was established. The Center will coordinate andpromote the use of state-of-the art prevention information and organize multiperspectiveteams which will use consensus-building to arrive at recommendedguidelines. A government agency task force will work toward facilitating a coordinatedand informed public response, and a workshop will be held to begin exploringmechanisms for involving the private sector in research and prevention efforts.

Research participation among state and local public health emergency preparedness and response programs

IN RECENT YEARS, public health statisticians, like most other public health personnel, have become aware of severe shortages in their profession. Factual information has been inadequate, however, establish trends in recruitment, training, and salaries. Responsive expressed comments regarding this problem, Dr. Albert E. Bailey, former president of the American Association of Vital Records and Public Health Statistics, appointed a Committee on Recruitment, Training, and Salaries to collect information on what is happening in the various areas with regard vacancies, new appointments, inservice training, university training institutes, salary changes, and present salary levels. The committee consisted of the author as chairman, Nancy W. Lucas, Ohio State Department of Health, and Melvin R. Wise, Arizona State Department of Ihealth. It was appointed July 1, 1959, and presented its report at the biennial meeting held in Washingtoni, D.C., June 1960. This paper summarizes the most important findings. To carry out its charge, the committee sought data by means of two questionnaires: one the heads of the statistical offices of the State, Territorial, and certain city health departments and another the heads of the departments of biostatistics at the schools of public health. Three health departments with large statistical units (California State, New York City, and New York State) supplied additional information.

Battle of the Bugs: Progress in the Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance