News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Ending months of delay, a large bipartisan majority in the US Senate today passed a bill that aims to make the nation's food supply safer by giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) more authority over food producers and requiring large producers and processors to develop detailed food safety plans.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Senate voted today to clear the way for floor debate of a major bill to strengthen federal regulation of food safety, keeping alive a chance of passage before this Congress adjourns in December.

(CIDRAP News) – A workshop summary released today by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) offers a wide range of observations and suggestions about what worked well and not so well during the pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccination campaign—a complex, months-long operation with a cast of thousands.

(CIDRAP News) – State and local health departments have significantly improved their readiness for public health emergencies in the past few years, with laboratory capacity and emergency operations centers leading the list of improved areas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a major report released today.

(CIDRAP News) – A survey by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) shows that budget-squeezed local health departments (LHDs) shed 8,000 jobs in the second half of 2009, bringing the year's total to 16,000 and boosting the 2-year shrinkage in the local health workforce to 15%.

(CIDRAP News) – Over the past 5 years public health has seen federal funding remain flat, but $392 million in recession-driven state funding cuts this past year are further impairing the ability of many communities to deliver basic disease prevention and emergency health preparedness services, according to a report today from two nonprofit groups.

(CIDRAP News) – Pandemic flu activity in the United States stayed level for the fourth week in a row, though the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported slight increases in the number of outpatient visits for flu-like illnesses and deaths from pneumonia and influenza.

(CIDRAP News) – As pandemic flu activity across the nation wanes, federal health officials are already reviewing the government's response and lessons learned to help blunt the impact of the next national public health emergency, Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said yesterday.