Institute of Medicine's Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events: Current Initiatives

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Stroud ◽  
Bruce M. Altevogt ◽  
Lewis R. Goldfrank
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
H1n1 Influenza ◽  
Shared Responsibility ◽  
Common Element ◽  
Standards Of Care ◽  
Institute Of Medicine ◽  
Catastrophic Events ◽  
Public Health Preparedness ◽  
Medical Countermeasures

ABSTRACTIt is only possible to achieve a resilient community and an integrated, comprehensive, and resilient health system that can respond effectively to a public health emergency through active collaboration, coordination, and shared responsibility among a broad group of public and private stakeholders and the community itself. The Institute of Medicine established the Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events in 2007 to provide a neutral venue for dialogue and collaboration among stakeholders in the preparedness field. In the Forum's first year, the members began to address topics such as medical countermeasures dispensing, crisis standards of care, and medical surge capacity. In the past 9 months, the Forum members have expanded their areas of interest in response to current events and national areas of focus. Current topics include individual, family, and community preparedness and resiliency; medical countermeasures from development through dispensing; and the response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Across all of the initiatives undertaken by the Forum, the common element is that they tackle problems, gaps, and future opportunities that can only be successfully addressed if multiple stakeholders work together.(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2010;4:174-177)

The Institute of Medicine's Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events: Regional Workshop Series on the 2009 H1N1 Influenza Vaccination Campaign

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Stroud ◽  
Bruce M. Altevogt ◽  
Jay C. Butler ◽  
Jeffrey S. Duchin
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Vaccination Campaign ◽  
H1n1 Influenza ◽  
Institute Of Medicine ◽  
Catastrophic Events ◽  
Public Health Preparedness ◽  
H1n1 Vaccine ◽  
2009 H1n1

ABSTRACTIn response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, public health authorities launched an ambitious vaccination program to protect tens of millions of Americans from the virus. In April and May 2010, the Institute of Medicine Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events hosted a series of 3 regional workshops to examine the 2009 H1N1 vaccination campaign. The workshops brought together stakeholders involved in distributing and dispensing H1N1 vaccine to discuss successes and challenges and to identify strategies to improve future vaccination programs and other medical countermeasure dispensing campaigns. On the basis of the presentations and the discussions that followed, several themes and opportunities for future efforts were identified in the following areas: vaccine supply and demand; state and local implementation of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations, including prioritization for vaccination; vaccine formulations and priority groups; opportunities for developing partnerships; opportunities to increase seasonal vaccination rates among pregnant women and health care workers and to increase acceptance of live attenuated nasal spray vaccine; standardization and improvement of immunization information management systems; opportunities to simplify, systematize, and automate processes and practices; and research needs and opportunities.(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2011;5:81-86)

Altered Standards of Care During an Influenza Pandemic: Identifying Ethical, Legal, and Practical Principles to Guide Decision Making

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (S2) ◽  
pp. S132-S140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donna Levin ◽  
Rebecca Orfaly Cadigan ◽  
Paul D. Biddinger ◽  
Suzanne Condon ◽  
Howard K. Koh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
State Level ◽  
Mass Casualty ◽  
Standards Of Care ◽  
Public Health Preparedness ◽  
Community Stakeholders ◽  
Mass Casualty Events ◽  
Public Health Officials

ABSTRACTAlthough widespread support favors prospective planning for altered standards of care during mass casualty events, the literature includes few, if any, accounts of groups that have formally addressed the overarching policy considerations at the state level. We describe the planning process undertaken by public health officials in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, along with community and academic partners, to explore the issues surrounding altered standards of care in the event of pandemic influenza. Throughout 2006, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Harvard School of Public Health Center for Public Health Preparedness jointly convened a working group comprising ethicists, lawyers, clinicians, and local and state public health officials to consider issues such as allocation of antiviral medications, prioritization of critical care, and state seizure of private assets. Community stakeholders were also engaged in the process through facilitated discussion of case scenarios focused on these and other issues. The objective of this initiative was to establish a framework and some fundamental principles that would subsequently guide the process of establishing specific altered standards of care protocols. The group collectively identified 4 goals and 7 principles to guide the equitable allocation of limited resources and establishment of altered standards of care protocols. Reviewing and analyzing this process to date may serve as a resource for other states. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2009;3(Suppl 2):S132–S140)

scholarly journals An Uncertain Risk: The World Health Organization's Account of H1N1

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 511-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudeepa Abeysinghe
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
H1n1 Influenza ◽  
World Health ◽  
Scientific Uncertainty ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
The World ◽  
Public Risk ◽  
Health Organization

ArgumentScientific uncertainty is fundamental to the management of contemporary global risks. In 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the start of the H1N1 Influenza Pandemic. This declaration signified the risk posed by the spread of the H1N1 virus, and in turn precipitated a range of actions by global public health actors. This article analyzes the WHO's public representation of risk and examines the centrality of scientific uncertainty in the case of H1N1. It argues that the WHO's risk narrative reflected the context of scientific uncertainty in which it was working. The WHO argued that it was attempting to remain faithful to the scientific evidence, and the uncertain nature of the threat. However, as a result, the WHO's public risk narrative was neither consistent nor socially robust, leading to the eventual contestation of the WHO's position by other global public health actors, most notably the Council of Europe. This illustrates both the significance of scientific uncertainty in the investigation of risk, and the difficulty for risk managing institutions in effectively acting in the face of this uncertainty.

Rural Mass Casualty Preparedness and Response: The Institute of Medicine's Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin P. Viswanathan ◽  
Robert Bass ◽  
Gamunu Wijetunge ◽  
Bruce M. Altevogt
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Mass Casualty Incident ◽  
Emerging Technology ◽  
Mass Casualty ◽  
Catastrophic Events ◽  
Public Health Preparedness ◽  
Rural Infrastructure ◽  
Daily Capacity

ABSTRACTThe Institute of Medicine's Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events hosted a workshop at the request of the Federal Interagency Committee on Emergency Medical Services (FICEMS) that brought together a range of stakeholders to broadly identify and confront gaps in rural infrastructure that challenge mass casualty incident (MCI) response and potential mechanisms to fill them. This report summarizes the presentations and discussions around 6 major issues specific to rural MCI preparedness and response: (1) improving rural response to MCI through improving daily capacity and capability, (2) leveraging current and emerging technology to overcome infrastructure deficits, (3) sustaining and strengthening relationships, (4) developing and sharing best practices across jurisdictions and sectors, (5) establishing metrics research and development, and (6) fostering the need for federal leadership to expand and integrate EMS into a broader rural response framework.(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2012;6:297–302)

scholarly journals Modelling seasonality and viral mutation to predict the course of an influenza pandemic

2010 ◽  
Vol 138 (10) ◽  
pp. 1472-1481 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. SHI ◽  
P. KESKINOCAK ◽  
J. L. SWANN ◽  
B. Y. LEE
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
H1n1 Influenza ◽  
Seasonal Effects ◽  
Public Health Decision ◽  
Viral Mutation ◽  
Daily Rate ◽  
Health Decision ◽  
Public Health Officials ◽  
2009 H1n1

SUMMARYAs the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic (H1N1) has shown, public health decision-makers may have to predict the subsequent course and severity of a pandemic. We developed an agent-based simulation model and used data from the state of Georgia to explore the influence of viral mutation and seasonal effects on the course of an influenza pandemic. We showed that when a pandemic begins in April certain conditions can lead to a second wave in autumn (e.g. the degree of seasonality exceeding 0·30, or the daily rate of immunity loss exceeding 1% per day). Moreover, certain combinations of seasonality and mutation variables reproduced three-wave epidemic curves. Our results may offer insights to public health officials on how to predict the subsequent course of an epidemic or pandemic based on early and emerging viral and epidemic characteristics and what data may be important to gather.

Rumor-Related and Exclusive Behavior Coverage in Internet News Reports Following the 2009 H1N1 Influenza Outbreak in Japan

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Shigemura ◽  
Nahoko Harada ◽  
Masaaki Tanichi ◽  
Masanori Nagamine ◽  
Kunio Shimizu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Influenza A ◽  
Information Quality ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
H1n1 Influenza ◽  
News Article ◽  
Internet News ◽  
Influenza A H1n1 ◽  
Public Health Information

AbstractObjectiveWe sought to elucidate news article reporting of adverse public psychosocial behaviors, in particular, rumor-related coverage (eg, panic, demagoguery) and exclusive behavior coverage (negative behaviors, eg, discrimination, bullying) during the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) influenza pandemic in Japan.MethodsWe examined 154 Internet news-site articles reporting adverse public psychosocial responses in the first 60 days of the outbreak. Rumor-related coverage and exclusive behavior coverage were dichotomously coded as included or not. Moreover, we assessed whether or not health information (eg, coping methods, virus toxicity information) or emphasis on information quality (eg, importance of information, cautions about overreactions) were simultaneously reported.ResultsRumor-related coverage (n=120, 77.9%) was less likely to simultaneously report public health information (eg, toxicity information, health support information, and cautions about overreactions; P<.05). Conversely, exclusive behavior coverage (n=41, 26.6%) was more likely to report public health information (P<.05).ConclusionsRumor-related coverage was less likely to have accompanying public health information, whereas exclusive behavior coverage was more likely to include it. During public health crises, it is essential to understand that rumors and exclusive behaviors have adverse effects on the public and that accompanying public health information may help people take proactive coping actions. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2015;9:459–463)

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