The Public Health Observer

Oral Health America

Carolina — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:02:45 +0000

Oral health America works to represent the oral health interests of the American public. Through Smiles Across America, OHA reaches more than 310,000 children annually with a range of oral disease prevention and health promotion services, including dental sealants, fluoride varnish treatments, and family education. The organization also educates youth about the risks of smokeless tobacco use and advocates for policies that help underserved Americans obtain the dental care and education they need.

Click here to learn more.

3rd Annual Sickle Cell Disease Education Symposium

Carolina — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:02:50 +0000

The Office of Civic Engagement is partnering with Center of Disease Control and Prevention to host the 3rd Annual Sickle Cell Disease Education Symposium. The evening will include presentations from a historian that will provide an overview of the first two case histories of sickle cell disease, a CDC scientist will discuss the public health impact of SCD and current CDC activities and a national community leader will discuss the future of SCD from a community based organization perspective. In addition to providing a forum to inform patients, families, community leaders, and health care providers about the public health impact of SCD, the goal of the symposium is to promote community engagement and advocacy.

The Symposium will be held on Monday, September 13, 2010 at 6:45 – 8:00 p.m. in Speakers Auditorium within the Student Center at Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA.

Public Health InternPositions with Federal Agency

Carolina — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 20:15:34 +0000

If you are interested in working for the federal government and would like to do an internship with a federal agency, please feel free to use the links listed below to research your options.

Dept. of Agriculture

http://www.dm.usda.gov/employ/CareerInternPositions.htm

Dept. of Commerce

http://hr.commerce.gov/Careers/StudentCareerOpportunities/DEV01_005844

Dept of Health and Human Services

http://hhsu.learning.hhs.gov/elp/

Dept. of Energy

http://humancapital.doe.gov/jobs/entry-level.htm

Dept. of Justice

http://www.usdoj.gov/careers/student_programs.html

Dept. of Interior/USGS

http://www.usgs.gov/ohr/student/index.html

Dept. of Transportation

www.fhwa.dot.gov/vacancy/career1.htm

Department of Veterans Affairs

http://www4.va.gov/JOBS/hiring_programs.asp#1

Department of the Treasury

http://www.ustreas.gov/organization/employment/internships/

Department of Education

http://www2.ed.gov/about/jobs/open/edhires/fcip.html

Dept. of Homeland Security

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/careers/students_grads/grads_entry.xml

Department of Housing and Urban Development

www.hud.gov/offices/adm/jobs/internship.cfm

Foreign Agricultural Service

http://www.fas.usda.gov/admin/newjobs/careerintern1.asp

National Agricultural Statistics Service

http://www.nass.usda.gov/Contact_Us/Opportunities/index.asp

Natural Resources Conservation Service

http://www.sd.nrcs.usda.gov/Career_Intern.html

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms

http://www.atf.gov/jobs/2006_industry_ops_investigator_info_packet.pdf

Bureau of Labor Statistics

http://www.bls.gov/jobs/student.htm#intern

Bureau of Land Management

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/res/blm_jobs/students_and_recent.html

Bureau of Reclamation

http://www.usbr.gov/pmts/hr/student.html

US Fish and Wildlife Service

http://www.fws.gov/humancapital/HR/exc_svc_opp.html

National Aeronautics & Space Administration

http://www.nasajobs.nasa.gov/studentopps/employment/CareerTraining.htm

Defense Logistics Agency

http://www.hr.dla.mil/prospective/interns/

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

http://www.fdic.gov/about/jobs/intern/

CDC Fellowships

Carolina — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 17:55:36 +0000

Here are some opportunities for career development of public health training for students and public health professionals at the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Student Internships and Fellowships

CDC offers a variety of internships and fellowships for students in areas of interest such as environmental health, epidemiology, general public health, global health, and laboratory research.

Programs:

Environmental health

Collegiate Leaders in Environmental Health (CLEH)

Summer Program in Environmental Health

Epidemiology

Epidemiology Elective Program

The CDC Experience Fellowship in Applied Epidemiology

General public health

ASPH/CDC Public Health Internship Program

Global health

CDC-Hubert Global Health Fellowship

Laboratory research

James A. Ferguson Emerging Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program

Career Training Fellowships

There are a variety of career trainings for graduates with bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degrees, medical and other public health professionals in different areas of interest on Computer science and information systems, epidemiology, general public health, global public health, health economics and quantitative policy analysis, laboratory research, management and leadership, preventive medicine, and public health management.

Programs:

Computer Science and Information Systems

Public Health Informatics Fellowship Program

Epidemiology

Epidemic Intelligence Service

General Public Health

ASPH/CDC Public Health Fellowship Program

Global Public Health

ASPH/CDC Allan Rosenfield Global Health Fellowship Program

Health Economics and Quantitative Policy Analysis

Prevention Effectiveness Fellowship Program

Laboratory Research

Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Advanced Laboratory Training Fellowship

Management and Leadership

Emerging Leaders Program at CDC

Presidential Management Fellows at CDC

Preventive Medicine

Preventive Medicine Residency and Fellowship

Public Health Management

Public Health Apprentice Program

For more information you can access CDC website.

Deepwater Horizon & Tropical Storm Alex

Carolina — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 02:17:34 +0000

Here are some of the advances in the control of BP oil spill in Gulf of Mexico:

Under the direction of the federal government, BP continues to capture some oil and burn gas at the surface using its containment dome technique, to optimize oil recovery from its leaking well.
Progress continues in drilling relief wells.
BP continues the “ranging” process which involves periodically withdrawing the drill pipe and sending an electrical signal down to determine how close they are getting to the wellbore.
NOAA-supported scientists predict increase in area containing depleted oxygen levels: the northern Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone, an underwater area with little or no oxygen known commonly as the “dead zone,” could be larger than the recent average by 500-1,800 square miles.
NOAA expands fishing restriction in the gulf: The closed area now represents 80,228 square miles—approximately 33.2 percent—of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico. This closure does not apply to any state waters. This leaves more than 66 percent of Gulf federal waters available for fishing.
The United States accept offers from a dozen countries and international agencies to help contain and clean up the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The U.S. Government has named BP as the responsible party, and officials have committed to hold the company accountable for all cleanup costs and other damage.
As of June 28th, BP had successfully removed 28,000,000 US gallons (890,000 US bbl) of oily liquid and burned about 9,900,000 US gallons (314,000 US bbl) of oil.

Tropical Storm “Alex”

The oil–spill cleanup may be delayed by The Tropical Storm Alex. BP Plc’s efforts to contain the largest oil spill in U.S. history were disrupted as Tropical Storm Alex strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico. The high winds are preventing flights to spray dispersant chemicals on the oil slick, which is in the northern and eastern Gulf.

Nearly 39,000 people and more than 6,000 boats are working there, in other parts of the Gulf and on land to skim and corral the oil, protect hundreds of miles of coastline and clean fouled beaches.

Alex is expected to make landfall as a hurricane late Wednesday or early Thursday near the Texas-Mexico border, about 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the Gulf oil spill. For now, this Tropical Storm is not expected to pass close the BP Plc.’s blown-out well off the Louisiana coast, but the storm ‘s path is being watched closely. However, drilling of an additional well to stop the gushing of the initial well is continuing and the relief well is scheduled to be completed in August.

BP Oil Spill…environmental catastrophe!

Carolina — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 10:06:47 +0000

It has been more than 8 weeks since one of BP’s oil rigs exploded and oil has been spewing out of it. Here is a quick look at the timeline of the events from May 24th – June 29th so far:

May 24 – 27, 2010

May 24^th

It’s been over a month since the $560-million oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and sunk and vast quantities of oil are still leaking into the Gulf of Mexico, causing an environmental catastrophe of epic proportions.

The “Top Kill” BP’s plan now is delayed. They try to plug the well with pressured drilling mud long enough to be able to seal it permanently with cement. Unfortunately it has never been tried at this depth, so nobody knows if it’s going to work.

May 27^th

The “top kill” is finally attempted, and at first it looked like it was working (a U.S. Coast Guard admiral said as much). But after a few days of efforts, the “top kill” is abandoned. BP will have to try something else…

June 15 – 29, 2010

Federal officials leading the frontline response to the BP oil spill to prevent oil from reaching the shoreline along the Gulf Coast and to mitigate its impact where it does.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has many monitoring stations surrounding the oil spill. Nearly every report that has come from the EPA shows little to no effect from the oil spill and no air quality degradation from the controlled burns and toxic dispersant released into the water.

EPA has observed odor-causing pollutants associated with oil on the shore in the gulf region at low levels. Some of these chemicals may cause short-lived effects like headache, eye, nose and throat irritation, or nausea. Some people may be able to smell several of these chemicals at levels well below those that would cause short-term health problems.

Surface water results collected along the Gulf coast on June 15, 18, 20, & 21, 2010 found no compounds exceeding chronic water benchmarks.

Sediment samples collected June 20, 2010 along the Gulf coast did not reveal elevated levels for chemicals that are usually found in oil.
“Federal government’s aggressive response efforts and oversight of BP will continue until BP stops its leaking well, the damage is cleaned up, and Gulf Coast communities are made whole, and stressed that the federal government is working closely with state and local authorities to ensure that they have the resources they need to meet the evolving threat from this oil spill.”

For information about validated environmental air and water sampling results, visit www.epa.gov/bpspill.

The Blowout Preventer and Containment Dome Failed, What Now?

Carolina — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 05:03:03 +0000

Relief Well
First, BP is drilling a relief well, and that’s has a very good chance of working (unless something really unexpected happens while drilling, such are terrible weather on the surface or something wrong with the equipment or rock formation under the seabed). The problem with it is that it is estimated that it will take three months for the well to be completed; with leaks of at least 5,000 barrels a day, maybe more, that’s an amount of time that we can’t afford.
Smaller Containment Dome, aka Top Hat
The first containment dome failed because of ice-like crystals, called hydrates, formed at the top, clogging the pipe that was supposed to allow the oil to be siphoned up to the surface, and also making the dome too buoyant to form an effective seal around the leak. BP now thinks that a smaller containment dome/box might be more effective, but once again, there’s no guarantee of success, and it could take a while to deploy this second containment dome (minimum 3 days).
Cutting the Riser Pipe
Another option would be to cut the riser pipe (the long pipe that was attached to both the rig on the surface and the wellhead at the bottom of the sea) and connect it to a larger pipe that would bring the oil to ships on the surface. This is a dangerous move because if they cut the pipe and something goes wrong (and at a depth of 5,000ft, a lot can go wrong), the oil flow-rate will have been increased and more oil will end up in the sea.
Junk Shot + Cement
Also on the table is what is called a ‘junk shot’: “This would involve injecting solid rubbery and fibrous material into the broken mechanism at the well head to stop it up temporarily, like a clogged toilet. The temporary clog would allow engineers time to use heavy fluids and cement to create a more permanent barrier.” This isn’t certain to work either, but unlike cutting the riser, at least if it doesn’t work the flow of oil won’t have been increased.

BP Oil Spill…environmental calamity!

Carolina — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:57:56 +0000

It has been 8 weeks since one of BP’s oil rigs exploded and oil has been spewing out of it. Here is a quick look at the timeline of the events so far:

April 20-30, 2010

· Tuesday, April 20, 2010: The Deepwater Horizon, a semi-submersible offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded and caught fire at around 10 p.m. local time (CST). 126 people were on board, 17 were injured and 11 are still missing (presumed dead).

· Wednesday, April 22, 2010: After having been on fire for more than a day and leaving behind a plume of smoke more than 30 miles long that could be seen from space, Deepwater Horizon sank on April 22, 2010

· Saturday, April 24, 2010: On Saturday, April 24, it was discovered that the underwater “riser” structure that connects the rig with the well was damaged and oil was leaking into the ocean. At first it was estimated that 1,000 barrels a day were being dumped into the Gulf of Mexico’s ecosystems.

· Monday, April 26, 2010: Search-and-rescue operations have been suspended with 11 people still missing. Officials warn that the leaks could take “months” to fix, even with the use of sophisticated underwater robots. The U.S. Coast Guard is considering setting fire to the oil to keep some of it from reaching the sensitive ecological areas on the shores. They set fire to a pocket of the oil, but not on a large scale.

· Thursday, April 29, 2010: It is discovered that the leak is not spewing the equivalent of 1,000 barrels of oil per day, but rather 5,000 (and some even estimate it at 10,000 barrels/day using satellite images). By end of day, the oil slick has reached the Mississippi Delta.

· Friday, April 30, 2010: The slick was estimated, as of April 30, to cover 6,000 square miles, or an area approximately equivalent to that of Jamaica.

May 1 -8, 2010

SkyTruth, a small non-profit, analyzed radar and satellite imagery estimated that the oil was leaking much faster than the original official estimates. They revised their estimate to 25,000 barrels/day!
The oil already-spilled reaches 1.6 million gallons (estimate as of 5/2/2010). Oil leaks caused by sunken exploration rig could take months to stop, even with underwater robots.
Now, BP’s primary plan to cap the geyser of oil in the Gulf of Mexico is to lower a 40 ft 100 ton containment dome onto the biggest leak site. The company is then planning on siphoning the oil onto a tanker standing by. They are trying to install a shutoff valve on one of the three underwater leaks, but this is a complicated operation that might not succeed.
Unfortunately, the plan to stop one of the oil leaks with a containment dome was a failure. The dome was removed and now BP has to figure out what to do. So far, oil continues spewing at 200,000 gallons a day!
Miles of boom had been deployed and chemical dispersants are still being dropped on.

Cost-effectiveness of Prevention Programs

Carolina — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 19:15:48 +0000

In some situations as public health professionals we have the need of analyzing the cost-effectiveness of one or several prevention programs. We basically need to compare the relative costs and outcomes (effects) of two or more courses of action, and based on that economic analysis choose the options that provide the greatest outcome for the least cost.

In order to start with that analysis we should have first a good understanding and knowledge of the program prevention efforts and program operations. We should start gathering data about the program, defining indicators, and for planning activities we should consider the cost effectiveness of the program to set priorities.

Through the economic evaluation and analysis of the programs, and the use of cost-effective resource allocations we can accomplish goals in prevention. This economic evaluation will have potential applications on:

Resource and policy advocacy
Targeting prevention efforts
Intervention evaluation
Prioritization
Intervention comparisons
Resource allocation

For example, economic analyses of the cost of providing a particular prevention services to at risk populations, and the potential impact of these services, can assist public health decision makers in determining whether that particular prevention funding should be increased or reduced.

Based on the cost-effectiveness of the program we can demonstrate the need for increased prevention funding or better targeting of existing economic resources, and estimate cost of prevention programs to eliminate a particular disease. Cost-effectiveness analysis can also be used to quantitatively address the targeting issue and to suggest qualitative guidelines for maximizing investment on a particular prevention plan.

Cost-effectiveness analysis is typically expressed in terms of a ratio where the denominator is a gain in health from a measure (years of life, premature births averted, sight-years gained) and the numerator is the cost associated with the health gain. The most commonly used outcome measure is quality-adjusted life years (QALY).

Using this essential evaluation tool will help us to set health priorities, to make tough decisions about how best to invest funds for public health, and to accomplish prevention goals.

HIV Prevention

Carolina — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:10:16 +0000

Many infected people are unaware of their HIV status and may unknowingly transmit the virus to others. Since this disease was first reported over 20 years ago, an estimated 944,000 people have developed AIDS in United States.

An estimated of 55,000 new HIV infections occur in USA each year. It is known, based on the experience that even in resource-limited settings, HIV epidemics can be prevented, slowed or reversed and quality treatment, care and support delivered. This is a reason for considering the importance of international experience and global knowledge in the effort to reduce transmission of the disease. Improvement in the advances of HIV’s treatments and care, and the policies and strategies that support an effective and comprehensive response to this epidemic all around the world are other crucial factors in HIV prevention efforts.

Some of the treatments and care for people living with HIV include antiretroviral treatment (ART). This treatment makes HIV/AIDS a chronic disease rather than a death sentence. It delays the progression of the disease, reduces disability, improves quality of life and increases life expectancy of the people.

People living with HIV/AIDS disease needs a comprehensive treatment and care including not only specific ART treatment, but also management of other health needs such as:

Tuberculosis (TB)
Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C infections
Management of drug dependence
Treatment of opportunistic infections
Palliative care
Sexual and reproductive health
Prevention of HIV mother-to-child transmission
Immunization and post-exposure prophylaxis

In order to address all these needs, surveillance data is a basic prerequisite for decision-making and for monitoring, evaluating and improving policies and services related to HIV/AIDS. Having true collected data is a significant factor for:

Developing appropriate strategies and policies to deal with this epidemic
Introducing efficient interventions for sexually transmitted infections prevention
Planning services and allocation of resources to prevent and control this disease.

However, in several countries this collection and management of data is limited. There is an insufficient knowledge about the increase in sexual and drug-related risk behavior observed in some populations.

It is known that the number of infections resulting from each route of transmission will vary greatly between countries and population groups. The share of resources allocated to each area should reflect the nature of the local epidemic, for example, if most infections occur among men who have sex with men then this group should be a primary target for prevention efforts.

For this situation, in order to achieve HIV prevention goals, prevention should be comprehensive, making use of all approaches known to be effective rather than just implementing one or a few select actions in isolation. Successful HIV prevention programs not only give information, but also build skills and provide access to essential commodities such as condoms or sterile injecting equipment. It should be remembered that many people don’t fit into only one “risk category”. For example, injecting drug users need access to condoms and safer sex counseling as well as support to reduce the risk of transmission through blood.

Remember: Effective HIV prevention programming should focuses on the critical relationships between the epidemiology of HIV infection, the risk behaviours that expose to HIV transmission, and the collective social and institutional factors, such as sexual norms, gender inequality, and HIV related stigma.