Since 9/11, federal funds directed toward public health departments for training in disaster preparedness have dramatically increased, resulting in changing expectations of public health workers' roles in emergency response. This article explores the public health emergency responder role through data collected as part of an oral history conducted with the 3 health departments that responded to...

BACKGROUND A total of 275 million tobacco users live throughout India and are in need of tobacco cessation services. However, the preparation of physicians to deliver this service at primary care health facilities remains unknown. AIMS The study aimed to examine the primary care physicians' preparedness to deliver tobacco cessation services in two Indian states. METHOD Researchers surveyed ...

T his paper is one of four interrelated action papers resulting from the 2008 National Summit on Legal Preparedness for Obesity Prevention and Control. Summit participants engaged in discussions on the current state of the law with respect to obesity, nutrition and food policy, physical activity, and physical education. Participants also identified gaps in the law at all jurisdictional levels a...

The 2001 World Trade Center and 2005 Hurricane disasters, and the 2014 Ebola outbreak were major events that tasked the United States' public health emergency preparedness and response apparatus. The health and economic cost of these events is huge including over 4000 deaths and damages to infrastructure worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Unfortunately, the U.S. labor force was disproportio...

After-action reports detailing the preparation, response, and outcomes after large tornadoes are sparse in the medical literature. Thus, the retrospective report by Ablah and colleagues1 in this issue of Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, documenting the EF5 tornado that devastated Greensburg, KS, in May 2007, is a timely and important contribution to the growing disaster medicin...

BACKGROUND Emergency preparedness is important for our national defense. Preparedness has been prioritized in Wisconsin, but little has been done to gauge the knowledge, training, and resource gaps that remain-especially those that are necessary for a coordinated community response. OBJECTIVE To determine the emergency preparedness knowledge, training, and resource needs of community-based pr...

It is now recognized worldwide that anticipation and prevention of diseases have significant advantages for the health and healthy ageing of the population. Early recognition of the disease in a vulnerable population such as in children aged <5 years and adults aged >60 years enhances our preparedness for any eventualities and future burden of the diseases to society. It is also recognized that...

The Bandar Bushehr, Iran earthquake of April 9, 2013 gravely illustrates how disaster-prone areas of the world are compounding their risk of disaster and major public health emergencies when there is a geographical convergence of natural and technological hazards. Scientists must emphasize to policy makers that ever-increasing regional industrialization and the broader introduction of nuclear f...

In November 2001, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) conducted a survey of state and territorial health departments to assess their core epidemiologic capacity. The survey was completed just before distribution of approximately $1 billion in terrorism preparedness and emergency response funds in fiscal year 2002, intended to improve the U.S. public health infrastructure...

West Africa is currently experiencing the largest outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in history with intense transmission in several affected countries. For non-affected countries, the best protective measures are adequate levels of preparedness including vigilant surveillance to detect cases early and well prepared health systems to ensure rapid containment of the virus and to avoid further...