The systems to detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks have suffered decades of underfunding and neglect in the United States and other countries, and the global financial crisis has worsened the problem. At the same time, the recent outbreak of hantavirus in Yosemite National Park, illnesses due to salmonella-contaminated mangoes, the whooping cough epidemic in Washington state, and reports of increasingly drug-resistant tuberculosis abroad all point to the crucial need for systems that can effectively prevent, detect, and mount a rapid response to infectious agents.
The Institute of Medicine is hosting a two-day workshop to explore how to maintain effective infectious disease surveillance and response capacity in an age of austerity. Participants will look at the impact of budget cutbacks on population health and public health agencies among other topics.
The workshop will run from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. EDT on Sept. 10, and from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EDT on Sept. 11 in Room 100 of the National Academies’ Keck Center, 500 Fifth St., N.W., Washington, D.C. An agenda and registration are available online. Reporters with questions can contact the National Academies’ Office of News and Public Information; tel. 202-334-2138 or e-mail news@nas.edu.