Posted on March 20, 2002 at 9:20 a.m.
BIRMINGHAM, AL — Public health schools at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Tulane University in New Orleans are partnering to establish the South Central Center for Public Health Preparedness. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently announced funding for the center as part of the $2.9 billion set aside by President Bush to enhance bioterrorism preparedness.
The center will serve the four-state gulf region of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas to aid these states in improving the region’s public health infrastructure. “The center will serve as a resource to help states identify, assess and improve workforce preparedness in the areas of bioterrorism and emerging infections,” says Michael Maetz, V.M.D., chair of the department of epidemiology and international health at UAB’s School of Public Health and co-director of the center.
The South Central Center for Public Health Preparedness is one of 15 centers that will make up a nationwide network to prepare the nation’s public health and healthcare workforces to respond to terrorist attacks and other emerging health threats. “The initial five centers received funding last year,” says Maetz. “There has been and continues to be a strong interest on the part of the federal government to ensure that states are prepared in these areas.”
The center will complement the South Central Public Health Training Center, an existing center of the two schools funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration. “The new center will expand on the efforts of the existing center to enhance the capabilities of the region’s public health workforce,” says Maetz.
Current activities of the existing center include distance learning opportunities via the internet, video and satellite conferencing, community-based health education initiatives, and curriculum development for graduate public health schools focused in the areas of bioterrorism, infectious diseases and emerging infections.
UAB’s Center for Disaster Preparedness, directed by Dr. Thomas Terndrup, chair of the department of emergency medicine, are involved in activities that will complement the center’s efforts. “The Center for Disaster Preparedness offers physician education and other resources that will serve to strengthen our efforts to link schools of public health with local and state public health agencies and community health partners,” says Maetz.
UAB’s School of Public Health, Alabama’s only school of public health, offers 22 graduate-level programs of study, including health behavior, environmental health, epidemiology, international health, biostatistics, health care organization and policy and maternal and child health. The school is committed to development of future public health leaders who are equipped with the knowledge and expertise to address some of the world’s most pressing health issues.