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U.S. governors prepare for flu pandemic
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The National Association of Governors is launching a project to help U.S. states prepare for the arrival of bird flu or some other deadly pandemic.
The Pandemic Preparedness Project will focus on best practices in areas such as the development of response strategies and maintaining vital public services in the midst of a health crisis.
"By their nature, pandemics happen across the globe, but their effects are excruciatingly local," U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt said in the association's announcement Monday. "Planning needs to go beyond public health. Discussion at the state and local level needs to address how schools, businesses, public agencies and others participate in pandemic preparedness."
The centerpiece of the project will be a year-long series of regional exercises involving state teams representing areas such as public health, homeland security, agriculture, education and the private sector. The tabletop exercises will test preparedness and cooperation among state, local and federal agencies, and will more importantly bolster the working relationships that already exist.
The project is being launched against the backdrop of the H5N1 avian flu, which poses a threat not only to the U.S. poultry industry, but is also considered a potentially major human health threat that would most likely show up first in hospitals and schools that are under state and local control rather than federal, and could quickly cross state lines as infected people travel by air and vehicle
U.S. governors prepare for flu pandemic
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The National Association of Governors is launching a project to help U.S. states prepare for the arrival of bird flu or some other deadly pandemic.
The Pandemic Preparedness Project will focus on best practices in areas such as the development of response strategies and maintaining vital public services in the midst of a health crisis.
"By their nature, pandemics happen across the globe, but their effects are excruciatingly local," U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt said in the association's announcement Monday. "Planning needs to go beyond public health. Discussion at the state and local level needs to address how schools, businesses, public agencies and others participate in pandemic preparedness."
The centerpiece of the project will be a year-long series of regional exercises involving state teams representing areas such as public health, homeland security, agriculture, education and the private sector. The tabletop exercises will test preparedness and cooperation among state, local and federal agencies, and will more importantly bolster the working relationships that already exist.
The project is being launched against the backdrop of the H5N1 avian flu, which poses a threat not only to the U.S. poultry industry, but is also considered a potentially major human health threat that would most likely show up first in hospitals and schools that are under state and local control rather than federal, and could quickly cross state lines as infected people travel by air and vehicle