411.0 Town Hall Breakfast: Pandemic Flu and Community Resilience

Tuesday, October 28, 2008: 7:30 AM
Business Meeting
Despite high visibility of the pandemic influenza issue three years ago, public attention has receded. The governmental response in terms of financing and creative policy development has been muted. To date, the Presidential candidates have been virtually silent regarding national pandemic preparedness. However, over the past three years, the known human H5N1 case fatality rate has increased. The adage that “it is not if, but when” remains in force. Most public health departments have incorporated pandemic preparedness into their response planning. Community and regional exercises have underscored the gravity of a moderate to severe pandemic relative to other types of natural disasters. Depending on the assumptions, local communities would be on their own for extended periods of time under abject conditions. While state and local health departments will be in the forefront of mitigation efforts, insufficient investment in the public health workforce, inadequate medical countermeasures, deficient healthcare and laboratory capacity and other factors present formidable challenges. This fast moving facilitated session will seek your views in the following areas: • What has the public health sector learned about the pandemic influenza challenge? • What inroads and innovations can we point to in terms of community pandemic planning? • What insights have emerged regarding empowering individuals and families to prepare for pandemic conditions? • What strategies are available to prepare vulnerable populations for a potential pandemic? • In broad strokes, what should the priorities be in fashioning a more realistic policy agenda for national pandemic preparedness?
Session Objectives: Attendees will be able to identify issues that the new Presidential Administration must address to improve policy development and implementation in the area of pandemic flu preparedness.
Moderator:
Richard M. Krieg, PhD

See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement and author's information.

Organized by: APHA

See more of: APHA
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