Professional Documents
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Learning Objectives
By the end of this session (readings, lectures and exercises) the student should be able to: Describe mechanisms of disease spread and control. Describe the current estimates of the social, economic, transportation, communications and health sector impacts of a pandemic, and their affects on critical systems (e.g. food, utilities, law enforcement, healthcare, etc.). Describe current federal pandemic preparedness and response plans.
Catastrophe Readiness and Response Course Session 13 2
Learning Objectives - 2
Identify potential strategies for dealing with/ responding to a pandemic. Describe barriers to effective inter-jurisdictional planning for pandemic response. Discuss the impact of a pandemic on the private sector. Discuss the potential long range economic problems that may result from a pandemic. Discuss inter-jurisdictional issues (including international coordination) in a pandemic response.
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Review
Public Health and epidemiology are scientific methods to prevent or reduce the spread of illness in a population. Endemic and epidemic infectious diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide. There are specific tools used to reduce the spread of infections.
Pandemic Influenza
Why Do We Care?
Historically pandemics have killed millions and destroyed entire societies:
The Black Plague in Europe in the Middle Ages killed as much as 50% of the entire population, and wiped out entire communities. The 1918 Influenza Pandemic killed more than 20 million people worldwide in less than a year, some now estimate that it was 100 million.
Gina Koleta: Flu, The Story of the Great Influenza Epidemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It. ISBN-10: 1417618019
Influenza
A virus that causes predictable, seasonal (winter) epidemics. Not a cold, but an infection with high fevers and muscle aches. It can lead to pneumonia and death. There are an estimated 20,000 deaths from influenza each year in the USA, usually among the elderly and immunocompromised. www.cdc.gov/flu/nivw06.htm
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Banking and financial services may be restricted or cease to function. People with many non-influenza-related health conditions may find it difficult to obtain medical care or medications.
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Class Exercise 1
Before going any further, break into groups and discuss what the challenges will be for emergency managers, and what functions EM can play in responding to a pandemic. Groups report back to the larger class. Consider areas such as:
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Goals
Limit spread and damage Protect commerce and infrastructure Assure governmental and economic continuity
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Barriers -1
Most funding is stovepiped to either emergency management or health, but not to both. Funding for non-governmental partners is virtually nil. Funding to one jurisdiction is not shared with others. In many jurisdictions, EM and health rarely include each other in planning and exercises. Many emergency managers express some angst at dealing with health authorities.
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Barriers - 2
Many decision-makers in the health sector are poorly informed about emergency decision-making or the national emergency management systems. Public health personnel tend to make decisions in a slow-moving democratic fashion based on data collection and analysis.
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Barriers - 3
Despite guidance from the CDC and other agencies, many health jurisdictions simply do not have anyone with emergency planning expertise, and do not conduct serious pandemic planning. Mechanisms for the US to receive international aid are still poorly developed and conflictive.
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