Disaster Preparedness Daily News

Posts Tagged ‘CDC’

Because acting quickly and effectively during major disasters often means the difference between life and death on a large scale, the federal government is looking for ways to improve preparedness and emergency response systems across the country.

As part of this effort, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded $8.4 million over the next five years to the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health to create a Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center. The Center’s experts will develop methods to evaluate emergency response plans and “best practices” to handle public health emergencies caused by the spread of infectious diseases, defective water and sewage systems, natural disasters or intentional acts.

“The capacity of local governments to respond to public health disasters varies greatly from region to region,” said Maggie Potter, J.D., principal investigator of the grant and associate dean and director of the Center for Public Health Practice at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. “We know the difference between a poor response and an effective one based on actual outcomes, but we know much less about the underlying reasons why some plans work well and others fail.”

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