February 7, 2009 is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day http://www.blackaidsday.org/

A statement from Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases states:

The scourge of HIV/AIDS, which continues to affect the African-American community disproportionately, highlights the importance of a comprehensive strategy to address the U.S. epidemic. African-Americans make up 12 percent of the U.S. population but account for nearly half of all new HIV infections [1] and almost half of all Americans living with HIV. [2] Recent analyses by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveal that in 2006, more new HIV infections occurred among young black men who have sex with men than in any other segment of the U.S. population. That same year, black women acquired new HIV infections at 15 times the rate of white women. [3] If African-Americans were a country, they would form the 35th most populous nation in the world but would rank 16th in the number of people living with the virus. [4]

Visit http://AIDS.gov for comprehensive government-wide information on HIV/AIDS; visit http://www.aidsinfo.nih.gov/ for information about prevention, treatment and clinical trials; and visit http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/civilrights/resources/specialtopics/hiv/ for information on protecting the civil rights and health information privacy rights of people infected with HIV.

You can read the entire statement at http://www.nih.gov/news/health/feb2009/niaid-04.htm

Public Librarians Response to Hurricanes: Lessons, Issues and Strategies
Lecture and Webcast
February 20, 2009 12:30 - 2:30
http://ci.fsu.edu/news/?p=1363

The five panel experts have had “hands on” experience in assisting libraries plan for and respond to hurricanes.  As such they are assisting the Information Institute in completing a study that will identify public library best practices in hurricane preparedness and response, create a web portal to organize and access a broad range of information that can be of assistance to public librarians and local communities regarding hurricanes, and provide training to public libraries for how best to use this website and the various materials generated by the study.  Detailed background information about the study, its goals, funding, activities, can be found at: http://www.ii.fsu.edu/news_detail.cfm?newsID=62 The program will also be webcast with access instructions to be announced on the College of Information webpage at http://www.ci.fsu.edu/.

Health Information Outreach and Community Engagement:  Lessons Learned from the Experts
Thursday, February 12, 2009 / 2 – 3:30 PM
Engaging your community with health information outreach projects is rewarding, meaningful work. Come learn from the experiences of experts in health information outreach and community engagement. Each speaker has led a successful health information outreach subcontract from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine/ New England Region. The program is intended for anyone interested in pursuing funding or learning more about how to engage the local community in effective health information outreach.
Registration is free and on a first come, first serve basis.  Session will be limited to fifty participants.
To register, please contact Martha Pearson at martha.pearson@umassmed.edu.
In your email please include:
•    Name
•    Institution / address with zip code / phone / e-mail
•    Name of the program (Health Information Outreach and Community Engagement:  Lessons Learned from the Experts).

State of the U.S.A. Health Indicators
Committee on the State of the USA Health Indicators, Institute of Medicine, 2008
Available online at: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12534
“………..Policymakers, the media, and the public should focus on 20 specific health indicators as “yardsticks” to measure the overall health and well-being of Americans, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM).
By providing information that can be compared over time, these 20 indicators will also help Americans track the nation’s progress on improving our health and the effectiveness of public health and care systems.
The indicators are intended for the health section of a new Web site that the nonprofit State of the USA Inc. (SUSA) http://stateoftheusa.org/ is building as a tool for measuring and monitoring the nation on several fronts. The site will aim to help people become more-informed and active participants in national discussions about important topics — such as health, education, and the environment — by giving them a way to measure national progress from year to year and to compare it to that of other countries. Until recently, only researchers and academics have had the capacity for this kind of analysis.
The 20 proposed indicators together provide a broad picture of Americans’ health and the nation’s health systems. They reflect a range of factors that determine well-being, including how many individuals engage in certain risky or healthy behaviors, how well patients fare from the care they receive, and to what extent health professionals and facilities are meeting specific goals. [posted on PAHO/WHO Equity list]

Reducing Inequities in Health and Safety through Prevention
http://www.preventioninstitute.org/documents/HealthEquityMemo_012309.pdf
Prevention Institute and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Institute for Health Policy have released a position paper, Reducing Inequities in Health and Safety through Prevention. The paper emphasizes the need for a national commitment and elements of an agenda focused on achieving equitable health outcomes for all. [Prevention Institute Alert]

Access to healthy foods worse in poor areas
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_74043.html
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
By Anne Harding
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who live in poorer neighborhoods in the US are less likely to have easy access to supermarkets carrying a wide variety of fresh produce and other healthy food, an analysis of 54 studies confirms.
But they probably have plenty of unhealthy fast food joints to choose from, Dr. Nicole I. Larson of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and her colleagues found.
“The research I reviewed suggests there is a need for new policies and other local actions to address the problem of poor access to healthy foods in many lower income, rural, and minority communities,” Larson told Reuters Health.
Evidence is mounting, Larson and her team note, that segregation of neighborhoods by “income, race, and ethnicity” plays a major role in US health disparities, and accessibility to healthy — and unhealthy — food may be a factor. [posted in MedlinePlus Health News, Thursday January 22, 2009]

Wisconsin Pandemic Inflenza Toolkit for Families http://pandemic.wisconsin.gov/category.asp?linkcatid=2834&linkid=904&locid=106
Emergency Prparedness programs working on Pandemic Influenza planning have concerns about getting home care info to family members. If/when a Pandemic hits, the medical system will be overwhelmed and families will have to care at home for those stricken with flu, as well as other health conditions if health care facilities close and send patients home. For influenza it’s mostly controlling fever, hydration, and knowing when to call for further assistance. [Posted on HealthLiteracy listserv]

Annual CDC Report Finds High Burden of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Especially among Women and Racial Minorities
http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/Newsroom/PressRelease011309.html
Reported cases of chlamydia and gonorrhea in the United States exceeded 1.4 million in 2007, according to an annual report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These diseases continue to be the most commonly reported infectious diseases in the nation and pose persistent and preventable threats to fertility in the United States. The report shows persistent racial disparities across sexually transmitted diseases (STD), and a particularly heavy burden of disease among women. [posted on PHPartners http://phpartners.org/ - New Links for the week of Jan 16, 2009]

RWJF’s Pioneer Portfolio and Ashoka’s Changemakers have launched a global search for individuals and institutions who help people make better decisions regarding their health and the health of others. Now through April 1, 2009 you are encouraged to enter your idea as part of the new online, open-source competition “Designing for Better Health.”

What can often make the difference in the health-related options we choose are the nudges we get. Nudges are innovative little pushes that can help us make better choices. They entail an individual or institution intentionally creating a choice environment that makes it easier for people to make decisions that can improve their health.

View details of the competetion online at http://www.rwjf.org/pioneer/product.jsp?id=37528 [posted on RWJF Contents Alert]

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released an updated and improved version of the Surgeon General’s Internet-based family health history tool. This new tool makes it easier for consumers to assemble and share family health history information.  It can also help practitioners make better use of health history information so they can provide more informed and personalized care for their patients. For more information please visit the following URL: https://familyhistory.hhs.gov/fhh-web/home.action

DisabilityInfo.gov’s Community Life Section offers a wide range of information and resources to help people with disabilities live independently and participate fully in all aspects of community life. http://tinyurl.com/yv69xv (or start on the home page http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/ and select the Community Life tab) Included in this section are “Emergency Preparedness” and “Multicultural Populations Resources“.

Planning for the health and safety of those attending mass gatherings is an enormous challenge for local officials. Mass gatherings are defined as those attracting more than 1,000 participants and include events like the Olympics, Super Bowl, religious services conducted by the Pope, state funerals, and presidential inaugurations. Public health concerns range from ensuring adequate drinking water, food safety, first aid, and toilet facilities to planning for the extremes of possible major accidents, dangerous weather and even terrorist threats.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has compiled a Web page of links to information on the public health aspects of planning for all kinds of mass gatherings, http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/massgatherings.html. These resources include a search of PubMed for medical journal article citations as well as documents from government and other sources. Topics include preparedness for large numbers of casualties and management of disease outbreaks.

Health tips for those attending inauguration weekend outdoor activities are available from the US Department of Health and Human Services at http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2009pres/01/20090112a.html.

For more information on the Disaster Information Management Research Center at NLM, please visit http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov/

The Radiation Event Medical Management System (REMM) http://remm.nlm.gov/ is available for download to mobile devices (Blackberry®, Windows Mobile®, Palm®) with selected key files from the full online version.  REMM is produced by the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Office of Planning and Emergency Operations, in cooperation with the National Library of Medicine®, Division of Specialized Information Services, with subject matter experts from the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and many US and international consultants. For more see http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/nd08/nd08_sis_reprint_remm.html [NLM New files for the week of Dec 29, 2008]

WISER 4.2 is now available! You may download it from the WISER web site http://wiser.nlm.nih.gov/ , or access the on-line version, WebWISER. http://webwiser.nlm.nih.gov/ WISER is a system designed to assist first responders in hazardous material incidents. WISER provides a wide range of information on hazardous substances, including substance identification support, physical characteristics, human health information, and containment and suppression advice. [NLM-WISER-L]

DisasterAssistance.gov
http://www.disasterassistance.gov/
DisasterAssistance.gov is an easy to use website that consolidates disaster information in one place. Currently, 17 U.S. Government agencies, which sponsor more than 40 forms of disaster assistance, contribute to the website. You can apply for many forms of assistance with a single, online application. Your application information is shared only with those agencies that you identify and is protected by the highest levels of security. Ultimately, DisasterAssistance.gov will speed the application process and allow you to check the progress of your application online. [[DISASTR-OUTREACH-LIB ]

Ready or Not 2008
http://healthyamericans.org/assets/files/bioterror-report-2008.pdf
Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) released the sixth annual Ready or Not? Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism report, which finds that progress made to better protect the country from disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and bioterrorism is now at risk, due to budget cuts and the economic crisis. In addition, the report concludes that major gaps remain in many critical areas of preparedness, including surge capacity, rapid disease detection, and food safety. [MRC National Listserv]

Read this blog posting from Tutor/Mentor Connections http://www.tutormentorconnection.org/ that discusses at risk youth as a public health issue http://tinyurl.com/a7rb3m The organizers at Tutor/Mentor Connections are looking to collaborate with others who are acting to make eduction and drop out reduction a public health priority. Please get in touch with them through the website or contact Dan Bassill tutormentor1 @ earthlink . net