Pandemic Preparedness

In reaction to the recent swine flu outbreak, states are reviewing pandemic preparedness plans to ensure they have the resources in place to protect citizens. In 2007, the Pew Center on the States, the Pew Health Group and the Center for Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota (CIDRAP) launched an online database of more than 130 peer-reviewed promising practices from four countries, 22 states and 33 counties.  Compiled as a resource to save communities and states time and resources, the database enables public health professionals to learn from each other and to build on their own pandemic plans.

www.CIDRAPPractices.org highlights approaches that communities across America have developed to address three key areas: altering standards of clinical care, communicating effectively about pandemic flu and delaying and diminishing the impact of a pandemic. Users can easily find practices applicable to their communities. The database can be searched by state or topic, as well as by area of special interest, such as materials translated into multiple languages, materials for vulnerable populations, or toolkits for schools.

Among other topics, promising practices in the database showcase how communities plan to:

*       manage scarce resources during a pandemic,
*       share core messages in multiple languages,
*       safeguard vulnerable populations,
*       provide medical care when hospitals and clinics are overwhelmed,
*       teach people to care for ill family members at home, and
*       engage schools to reduce the spread of illness.

For more information visit www.CIDRAPPractices.org

Also, The Pew Charitable Trusts, with its grantee Trust for America’s Health, supported the Pandemic Preparedness Initiative,  a multi-year study to ensure that federal and state plans for a major health emergency are both comprehensive and feasible. To learn more go to Pandemic Planning.