News & Perspective

(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) – The external committee tasked with reviewing the World Health Organization's (WHO's) response to the H1N1 pandemic wrapped up its third round of live meetings in Geneva today, hearing from an array of country and organization health representatives, as well as WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, who strongly defended the organization's response.

(CIDRAP News) – The necessity for good communication among the many parts of the healthcare system was a major theme today in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) teleconference on planning for public health emergencies.

(CIDRAP News) – An independent committee set up by the World Health Organization (WHO) to review its pandemic response wrapped up a 3-day meeting today, during which members heard testimony from widely divergent groups, from health officials to some of its most public critics.

(CIDRAP News) – Prompted by congressional hearings into foodborne illness outbreaks and the state of the nation's food safety system, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) today released its report on the US Food and Drug Administration's role, saying the agency needs a clear path to a risk-based strategy that delegates more inspection duties to states.

(CIDRAP News) – A panel set up by the World Health Organization (WHO) to review its pandemic response spent the last day of its 3-day meeting yesterday hearing from an expert who denied charged that drug companies swayed response activities and said it may be premature to declare that the pandemic is over, according to media reports.