DON’T BE SCARED. BE PREPARED.
All of us want to do the right things to protect ourselves and our families in the event of a health emergency, including a pandemic flu outbreak. So it is important to take steps now to have a plan in place to protect your loved ones during a pandemic.
Some of these are steps that should be taken to prepare for other types of public health emergencies, so doing them now in preparation for a pandemic flu could benefit you in other situations as well.
This brochure was prepared by Trust for America's Health's Pandemic Preparedness Initiative, which was Pew supported.
More resources for public health officials and the general public are available at these two Web sites:
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) issued a new report today, Pandemic Influenza: Warning, Children At-Risk, which finds that children and teens between the ages of 0-19 account for nearly 46 percent of all H5N1 “bird” flu cases and deaths. The report also identifies gaps in U.S. preparedness for treating and caring for children during a possible pandemic flu outbreak.
Four key areas of concern raised in the report include: child-appropriate doses of vaccine and medications; management and treatment of children who become ill; including children in strategies to slow the spread of influenza in communities; and caring for and supervising the health of children if schools and childcare facilities are closed for extended periods of time.
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Experts predict a severe pandemic flu outbreak could result in up to 1.9 million deaths in the United States, approximately 9.9 million Americans needing to be hospitalized, and an economic recession with losses of over $680 billion to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. How to treat and care for the nation’s 73.6 million children and adolescents during an influenza pandemic is a significant concern.
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Public health planners have a new tool to help them prepare for one of the most daunting public health emergencies: an influenza pandemic. PandemicPractices.org, launched today by the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota and the Pew Center on the States (PCS), a division of The Pew Charitable Trusts, brings together more than 130 peer-reviewed promising practices from four countries, 22 states and 33 counties. Compiled as a resource to save communities and states time and resources, the database enables public health professionals to learn from each other and to build on their own pandemic plans.
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A pandemic flu outbreak could sicken 90 billion and kill 2 million people in the United States, according to estimates, but a recent Trust for America's Health report examines another potential casualty-- our economy. According to the report, an outbreak could deliver a $680 billion blow to the U.S. economy, leading to the second worst recession since World War II.
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Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) today released the fourth annual Ready or Not? Protecting the Public’s Health from Disease, Disasters, and Bioterrorism report, which found that five years after the September 11th and anthrax tragedies, emergency health preparedness is still inadequate in America. The Ready or Not? report contains state-by-state health preparedness scores based on 10 key indicators to assess health emergency preparedness capabilities. All 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia were evaluated. Half of states scored six or less on the scale of 10 indicators. Oklahoma scored the highest with 10 out of 10; California, Iowa, Maryland, and New Jersey scored the lowest with four out of 10. States with stronger surge capacity capabilities and immunization programs scored higher in this year’s report, since four of the measures focus on these areas.
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