Public health emergencies such as infectious disease, bioterrorism, or natural disasters require a coordinated response at the local, national, and international levels. RAND research improves the capability of public health systems to anticipate and prepare for such emergencies, by providing a robust set of standardized response measures, tabletop exercises, and toolkits; using GIS technology for planning; and identifying best practices and lessons learned from multiagency exercises.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
This study suggests four timely US actions to address today's competing realities of globalization and economic austerity: raise awareness among clinicians and local health departments; capture and share exemplary disaster management practices across countries; ensure that US global health investments are effective, efficient, and sustainable; and think globally while acting locally to enhance US health security.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Most local public health officials rely on their perceptions of the legal environment in which they operate, but those perceptions often do not match the actual laws enacted.
REPORT
The Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) aims to improve communities' ability to rapidly provide life-saving medications during public health emergencies. The authors examine (1) the status of communities' operational capability to meet the goal of delivering medical countermeasures within 48 hours of a federal decision to deploy assets and (2) whether there is evidence that CRI has improved communities' capability to meet that goal.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
A majority of HCP support influenza vaccination requirements. Moreover, providing HCP with information about the safety of influenza vaccination and communicating that immunization of HCP is a patient safety issue may be important for generating staff support for influenza vaccination requirements.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
The authors analyze data from the 2008 National Association of City and County Health Officials Profile of Local Health Departments survey, and propose an improved composite measure of centralization that can be computed for all local health departments within a state, as opposed to a single state respondent, as done in 1998.
COMMENTARY
To assure the health security of the United States, we must be capable of stopping anything a terrorist or Mother Nature might throw at us. Wholesale cuts to public health are taking us farther from that goal, write Art Kellermann and Melinda Moore.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
A wide range of products and services exist to help patients convey personal health information. Health care providers should be familiar with their features, so they can access the information in a disaster or emergency.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Cooperation among the Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance countries improved their response to the 2009 H1N1 virus in areas previously considered problematic.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Organizational culture differences between public health and emergency management entities may hinder inter-agency collaboration.
MULTIMEDIA
In light of Congress's upcoming discussion about reauthorization of the Pandemic All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), five RAND experts discuss, in this August 2011 Congressional Briefing, the significant ways in which the U.S. public health system has improved since 9/11, as well as areas to which future improvement efforts should be targeted.
RESEARCH BRIEF
Despite substantial improvements in public health systems and preparedness since 9/11, significant challenges remain, and a cultural shift is needed to engage all sectors of society in emergency preparedness, response, and recovery.
NEWS RELEASE
A new collection of essays by experts from the RAND Corporation examines America in the decade since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, focusing a critical eye on the nation's actions since the attacks and outlining changes in strategy needed to improve efforts against jihadist groups.
REPORT
A new collection of essays by experts from the RAND Corporation examines America in the decade since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, focusing a critical eye on the nation's actions since the attacks and outlining changes in strategy needed to improve efforts against jihadist groups.
PROJECT
The sustained ability of a community to withstand and recover from adversity, at both the infrastructure and human levels, is a key policy issue. This project asks, what are the key levers for building and strengthening community resilience and what specific activities can communities undertake?
REPORT
NGOs are instrumental in communities' resilience to natural and man-made disasters, but the plans and processes for their involvement are not well-defined. RAND-convened sessions at the 2010 LANO conference identified challenges to engaging NGOs and recommendations for addressing these challenges.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Health care facilities may be prepared to deal with the medical aspects of large-scale disasters but they lack guidelines for managing the psychological aspects of disasters.
REPORT
Communities can build resilience to disasters through efforts such as joint planning of government and non-governmental organizations and the development of community networks.
RESEARCH BRIEF
Examines ways in which communities can improve their ability to withstand and recover from adversity.
NEWS RELEASE
Communities can build resilience to disasters through efforts such as joint planning of government and non-governmental organizations and the development of community networks.
COMMENTARY
Immunization remains the best and first line of defense against serious infectious illness. This year's seasonal flu shot incorporates vaccine for H1N1. It's safe, and it's vitally important to get it, write Art Kellermann and Katherine Harris.
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