The U.S. HHS department awarded US$137 million to states to “to strengthen the public health infrastructure and provide jobs in core areas of public health. Awarded in nearly every state, the grants enhance state, tribal, local and territorial efforts to provide tobacco cessation services, strengthen public health laboratory and immunization services, (and) prevent healthcare-associated infections…” The awards include:
– US$1 million to further enhance the nations’ public health laboratories by hiring and preparing scientists for careers in public health laboratories, providing training for scientists, and supporting public health initiatives related to infectious disease research.
– More than US$42 million to support: improvements to the Immunization Information Systems (registries) and other immunization information technologies; development of systems to improve billing for immunization services; planning and implementation of adult immunization programs; enhancement of vaccination capacity located in schools; and evaluations of the impact on disease of recent vaccine recommendations for children and adolescents.
– US$2.6 million to the Emerging Infections Programs around the country to continue improvement in disease monitoring, professional development and training, information technology development, and laboratory capacity.
– US$9.2 million to eight national non-profit professional public health organizations to assist state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments in adopting effective practices that strengthen their core public health systems and service delivery. They will also enhance the workforce by providing jobs in critical disciplines of epidemiology and informatics, thus attracting new talent to public health.
A full list of grantees is available at: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/08/state_prevention_grants.html
vaccines and global health :: ethics and policy 