 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Zarnaaz Bashir, MPH and Laurence Raine, PhD. Research and Evaluation, National Association of County and City Health Officials, 1100 17th Street, NW, Second Floor, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 783-5550, ext. 215, zbashir@naccho.org
National concern about the threats posed by terrorists using weapons of mass destruction is on the rise. The terrorism events of fall 2001, followed by the release of anthrax later that year, and the President’s announcement of a smallpox vaccination program in December 2002 have heightened interest in rebuilding much of the infrastructure of public health. Public health agencies would be one of the first to respond to threats of chemical and biological terrorism.
In February 2003, the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), in collaboration with Scientific Technologies Corporation (STC), released two tools: (1) Bt PREP: A Bioterrorism Response Plan for Local Public Health Systems, and (2) Bt TOOLBOX: A Web-based Resource Center for Bioterrorism Preparedness. Bt PREP offers a template plan for bioterrorism and emergency response that local public health agencies can adapt to their own communities, and is intended to offer an outline by which a local public health system can create a bioterrorism response plan for its own jurisdiction. Bt TOOLBOX is a repository of emergency preparedness information by, for, and about local public health systems, including response plans, emergency protocols, tabletop exercises, training curricula and programs, videos, etc.
NACCHO represents nearly 3,000 local public health agencies throughout the country and has been actively engaged in national efforts to enhance state and local public health preparedness for bioterrorism and other public health emergencies. This project was funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Bioterrorism, Public Health Infrastructure
Related Web page: www.naccho.org/project63.cfm
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.