News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a set of standards for public health preparedness capabilities to help state and local public health agencies set priorities and strategies in an age of budget-cutting.

(CIDRAP News) – Although antiviral drugs were used to treat many seriously sick people during the H1N1 influenza pandemic, experts at a conference today said they could have been used more widely and that some opportunities to learn from their use were missed.

(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.

Editor's Note: CIDRAP's Promising Practices: Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Tools (www.CIDRAPpractices.org) online database showcases peer-reviewed practices, including useful tools to help others with their planning. This article is one of a series exploring the development of these practices. We hope that describing the process and context of these practices enhances pandemic planning.

(CIDRAP News) – The Rand Corp. today released its first-ever midseason survey on the uptake of the current influenza vaccine, which found that public officials still have a tall task in front of them to administer this year's record vaccine supply.

The survey indicated that about 30% of US adults had received a flu shot by mid November, but more than half of those surveyed said they didn't plan to get the immunization.

(CIDRAP News) – Acting on the premise that "disasters discriminate," the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and several partner groups yesterday released a lengthy set of proposed guidelines for protecting the most vulnerable people during an influenza pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – The distribution of more than $5 billion in federal funds since 2001 has greatly improved states' preparedness to deal with disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and other public health emergencies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in a first-of-its-kind assessment.

(CIDRAP News) – The Bush administration's new budget proposes adding funds for pandemic preparedness while cutting some support for bioterrorism and local preparedness, drawing mixed reviews from national public health groups.

(CIDRAP News) – In the event of an influenza pandemic, medical and public health personnel and workers who make critical vaccines and drugs would have first call on scarce doses of vaccine, under the pandemic plan released by the federal government yesterday.