HHS supplies funds for academic centers for public health preparedness

Feb 7, 2002 (CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will provide $20 million this year to build up a nationwide network of university-based centers for public health preparedness that was launched in 2000, HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced this week.

The network's mission is to prepare the nation's public health and healthcare workers to respond to terrorist incidents and other emerging health threats, Thompson said. "The new funding will help centers identify, assess, and improve critical gaps in preparedness for the state and the localities that they serve," he said.

A total of $15 million will go to 15 centers at university schools of public health around the country, according to Thompson's Feb 5 announcement. Another $5 million will be used to create additional centers and to strengthen relationships with other academic institutions and community health agencies, he said. The money comes from the $2.9 billion in 2002 bioterrorism preparedness funding that was approved by Congress in December.

Development of the network of preparedness centers began in September 2000 in a collaboration of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with the Association of Schools of Public Health, state and local public health agencies, and other academic and community organizations, the HHS announcement said.

Thompson announced the funding while touring the Center for Public Health Preparedness at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. That center will develop a set of "customized courses that can be delivered on-site or via distance learning to address gaps in preparedness identified in state and local capacity assessments," HHS officials said.

HHS said an example of work already being done by the preparedness centers came from the Sep 11 attacks. The Center for Public Health Preparedness in New York City, a collaboration between Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and the New York City Health Department, helped deploy 800 public health nurses to manage city shelters after the attacks. The center, along with the American Red Cross, had just trained the nurses in emergency preparedness in late August.

Centers to be funded this year are at schools of public health at the following universities: Emory University, Atlanta; Harvard University, Boston; St. Louis University; University of Illinois at Chicago; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; Columbia University, New York City; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; University of Washington, Seattle; State University of New York at Albany; Tulane University, New Orleans; University of Iowa, Iowa City; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; University of Pittsburgh; University of South Florida, Tampa.

See also:

HHS news release announcing funding for the centers

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