UNC to Study Health Threats

Talk of such bioterrorism and infectious diseases is running rampant at the School of Public Health since the school received a three-year grant to form a new outreach center.

The N.C. Center for Public Health Preparedness will focus on research and prevention of public health concerns and will be used to educate N.C. counties about addressing health hazards.

"The purpose of the new center is to improve the ability of public health workers out in the field to respond to current or emerging health threats," said Penny Whiteside, associate director for program development at the N.C. Institute for Public Health at UNC.

The $400,000 grant came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Association of Schools of Public Health.

The University's School of Public Health is one of four academic posts across the nation to head new research that focuses on bioterrorism and infectious disease control.

The other universities involved in the public health program are the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Washington and Columbia University.

The new center, which also will collaborate with UNC's Center for Infectious Diseases, is initially working with four counties in the state to develop a response program model to use with other counties and states.

Whiteside said the four counties participating in the initial model are Cumberland, Edgecombe, New Hanover and Wake counties.

These four counties were chosen by the center because each area hosts various potential health concerns.

"We chose to work with Cumberland County because it houses the military base Fort Bragg, and we chose New Hanover County because it is the state's deep-water port," Whiteside said.

He said the center is working with Wake County because of its metropolitan nature and because it contains the state capital.

Edgecombe County was selected because it has a major interstate highway and a very high rate of sexually transmitted diseases, he said.

The center plans to communicate with each of the four counties and assess their competency levels in dealing with specific public health issues.

"Once we know where they stand, we can develop a basic public health training program customized to each county," Whiteside said.

After these model plans are developed for the program, the center hopes to use them throughout the state and the Southeast.

"Once the plans are developed (within the four counties), other counties will have the opportunity to get the information and training," said Rachel Stevens, deputy director of the N.C. Institute for Public Health.

"By the end of the first year, we will be ready to work with other counties."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.