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Biosecurity News in Brief
CDC Awards $24 Million for Pandemic PreparednessBy Amesh Adalja, October 6, 2008 On September 24, 2008, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced an award of $24 million for 29 state and local public health departments to engage in pandemic preparedness, with a specific focus on community-based practical approaches that could prevent or delay the spread of influenza virus. The awardees were selected from participants in the CDC’s Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Cooperative Agreement, and they have one year to complete their projects.1 The projects that were funded will focus on community engagement in public health decision making, electronic data exchange for influenza monitoring, integration of immunization information to track countermeasure deployment, development of electronic death reporting systems, healthcare provider collaboration, vulnerable population preparedness, and distribution of antiviral drugs to self-isolated persons.1,2 The $24 million in project funding is “part of $600 million in PHEP supplemental funding appropriated by Congress to accelerate state and local influenza pandemic planning efforts.”1 Dr. Richard Besser, director of CDC's Coordinating Center for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response, emphasized the importance of these projects: “what is learned from these projects can benefit everyone because it could improve national, regional and local public health detection and response to a pandemic involving influenza.” The CDC intends for successful projects to be replicated nationwide.1 References
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