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Outbreak: Plagues that changed HistorySeptember 27 – January 30, 2009
Organized by the Global Health Odyssey Museum; come see Byrn Barnard’s images of the symptoms and paths of the world’s deadliest diseases – and how the epidemics they spawned have changed history forever.
CDC Emphasizes Faith-Based Solutions
Since Hurricane Katrina, more faith-based organizations are increasing their involvement in emergency-preparedness efforts, and CDC has taken the lead in training them.
CDC’s outreach to faith-based organizations has never before had such strong linkages. As the agency expands its reach toward diverse populations—from emergency planning and preparedness to essential service support—people of faith are increasingly working side by side with public health workers.
One only has to look at the mobilization of volunteers from churches and other groups after Hurricane Katrina to recognize how faith-based and other local organizations provide critical support for communities. One lesson learned from that experience was that these groups were not adequately integrated into the government’s response.
Since Katrina, more faith-based organizations are increasing their involvement in emergency-preparedness efforts, and CDC has been taking the lead in training them. For example, a Web-based training course on pandemic flu planning recently reached several hundred Jewish leaders and has now trickled down to social services, hospitals, and daycares around the country. “No other federal agency has taken such a proactive role,” says Paul Goldenberg, national director for the Secure Community Network, which provides information sharing and best-practice resources to the Jewish community for security and preparedness.
The primary role of these partnerships involves translating health information and interventions in ways that communities can understand and use, with CDC providing the best science and proven interventions. Years after CDC leaders offered pioneering work in this area, through programs such as Reach 2010, HIV/AIDS, and tobacco control, partnerships with faith-based organizations in FY07 included 26 workshops in which 75 faith-based organizations received pandemic influenza preparedness training; four Webinars on preparedness, one of which involved more than 130 Jewish federations; conference sessions on AIDS and the church.
