U.S. Senator Dick Lugar recently announced that Purdue University will receive a $1.6 million grant from the Nunn-Lugar Threat Reduction program to develop real-time infectious disease surveillance programs in Pakistan.The goal of the five year collaboration between Purdue University and three Pakistani universities is to develop a system for collecting and analyzing infectious disease data in Pakistan.The added bioterrorism threat in Pakistan, officials stressed, adds to the need for such a system. “With the growing security and bioterrorism threats in Pakistan, there is a dire need to develop a robust and reliable health surveillance and rapid-response infrastructure with the capability to collect and analyze massive, time-evolving epidemic data in real-time,” Defense Threat Reduction Agency officials said. “The goal is to mitigate human and financial losses, a challenge exacerbated in highly populous areas where thousands of new cases can occur on a daily basis.”DTRA officials noted that a lack of such systems in Pakistan poses serious threats to both the health and security of the general public.“In fact, monitoring and response to any natural or manmade ID outbreak is nonexistent in the country due to insufficient resources, ineffective screening, poorly trained staff and inadequate health policy implementation,” the DTRA officials concluded. “The absence of security measures for protecting supply of food products and drinking water exposes additional serious health and security vulnerabilities.”
http://www.bioprepwatch.com/news/213490-purdue-to-work-with-pakistan-on-early-warning-detection-program
Showing posts with label bioterrorism planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bioterrorism planning. Show all posts
Saturday, 24 July 2010
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
BIOTERRORISM: North Carolina preparedness
North Carolina will be the national model for a new system to detect the earliest signs of an impending bioterrorism attack and provide warnings in time to minimize damage to human and animal life as well as the environment.
The model, called North Carolina Bio-Preparedness Collaborative (NCB-Prepared), will alert health officials and practitioners within hours of symptom outbreaks that might indicate a bioterrorist attack, threat of disease, food-borne illness or other threats to public health and safety.
The congressionally funded one-year, $5 million project is a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Initial collaborators include UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University and SAS Institute. The effort includes participation of the N.C. Division of Public Health and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Durham, as well as others from the public and private sectors.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2010/06/21/nc-national-model-for-bioterrorism-warning-system/
The model, called North Carolina Bio-Preparedness Collaborative (NCB-Prepared), will alert health officials and practitioners within hours of symptom outbreaks that might indicate a bioterrorist attack, threat of disease, food-borne illness or other threats to public health and safety.
The congressionally funded one-year, $5 million project is a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Initial collaborators include UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University and SAS Institute. The effort includes participation of the N.C. Division of Public Health and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Durham, as well as others from the public and private sectors.
http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2010/06/21/nc-national-model-for-bioterrorism-warning-system/
Thursday, 3 June 2010
BIOTERRORISM: Planning for diosasters is incompetent
The announcement that less than one-third of Torontonians received the H1N1 vaccine is taking health experts by surprise and creating alarm over potential system-wide deficiencies with the country’s pandemic planning.
It’s also raising questions over the lack of solid data on vaccination rates across the country and the accuracy of immunization estimates being used by some cities and provinces.
On Tuesday, Toronto Public Health released a report that showed 28 per cent of Toronto residents received the H1N1 vaccine. That’s far below national estimates from the Public Health Agency of Canada that indicate nearly half of the country’s population received the shot. And it’s lower than the 40 per cent that Ontario typically immunizes against seasonal flu.
“I’m surprised that it appears to be significantly lower than that,” said Allison McGeer, director of infection control at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital.
As policy-makers and health experts evaluate the response to the H1N1 pandemic, Toronto’s relatively low vaccination rate signals serious problems that need to be addressed across the system, said Earl Brown, professor in the biochemistry, microbiology and immunology department at the University of Ottawa.
Vaccine programs in Toronto and elsewhere were dogged by inconsistent communication from the government over the availability of the vaccine and who should receive it first, as well as problems with vaccine supply and the prominence of anti-vaccine advocates who spread myths about immunization risks, Prof. Brown said.
“When the experts start equivocating, then the public really had to throw up their hands sometimes,” he said.
Alberta’s chief medical officer of health said the province immunized about 33 per cent of its population and agreed that missteps were made and that pandemic planning needs major improvements.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/low-h1n1-vaccination-rate-alarms-health-experts/article1583841/
It’s also raising questions over the lack of solid data on vaccination rates across the country and the accuracy of immunization estimates being used by some cities and provinces.
On Tuesday, Toronto Public Health released a report that showed 28 per cent of Toronto residents received the H1N1 vaccine. That’s far below national estimates from the Public Health Agency of Canada that indicate nearly half of the country’s population received the shot. And it’s lower than the 40 per cent that Ontario typically immunizes against seasonal flu.
“I’m surprised that it appears to be significantly lower than that,” said Allison McGeer, director of infection control at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital.
As policy-makers and health experts evaluate the response to the H1N1 pandemic, Toronto’s relatively low vaccination rate signals serious problems that need to be addressed across the system, said Earl Brown, professor in the biochemistry, microbiology and immunology department at the University of Ottawa.
Vaccine programs in Toronto and elsewhere were dogged by inconsistent communication from the government over the availability of the vaccine and who should receive it first, as well as problems with vaccine supply and the prominence of anti-vaccine advocates who spread myths about immunization risks, Prof. Brown said.
“When the experts start equivocating, then the public really had to throw up their hands sometimes,” he said.
Alberta’s chief medical officer of health said the province immunized about 33 per cent of its population and agreed that missteps were made and that pandemic planning needs major improvements.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/low-h1n1-vaccination-rate-alarms-health-experts/article1583841/
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