Pacific response and disaster readiness.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Bioterrorism↗
Biomedical subjects
Sandra Pierantozzi
Publications and source records attributed to Sandra Pierantozzi.
The Pacific Center for Emergency Health: an anatomy of collaborative development and change--the Palau perspective.
Many Pacific Islands Countries (PICs) by their geographic location, isolation, and lack of resources, are at risk for both environmental and man-made disasters. Disaster management (DM) and mitigation is frustrated by the general underdevelopment of DM planning and lack of adequate emergency medical services (EMS) to deal with daily emergencies let alone large-scale emergencies and disasters. To address this, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed and implemented the Pacific Emergency Health Initiative (PEHI) to review and make recommendations regarding the current level of DM/EMS development of select PICs. As a practical next step, a collaborative demonstration project--the CDC--Palau Community College Center for Emergency Health--was established in the Republic of Palau with the purpose of providing training and technical assistance in DM/EMS development for the region. In September 2001 the Center conducted two simultaneous training programs addressing Public Health Disaster Planning (one-week) and pre-hospital First Responder Care (two-weeks). Sixty participants included public health planners, physicians, and fire and police officials from eleven PIC jurisdictions and representatives from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission, and the Fiji School of Medicine. Eleven country and state public health disaster plans were initiated. Through CDC's PEHI additional Center training programs are planned through FY 2003.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.↗
In-country and community-based postgraduate family practice training for Micronesian physicians--the Palau AHEC: a collaborative effort.
The U.S. Institute of Medicine in its 1998 review of the health care systems among the U.S.-Associated Pacific Islands (USAPI) identified promotion of primary health care (PHC) and training of the regional health workforce including postgraduate training for physicians as priorities. With the support of the health leadership of the USAPI and the Republic of Palau, the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) of the University of Hawaii captured U.S. federal Area Health Education Center (AHEC) funds to implement a postgraduate program to train Family Practitioners - physician specialists in primary care for the region. The Palau AHEC has evolved into ajoint activity of JABSOM, the University of Auckland Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (UAFMHS), the School of Public Health & Primary Care--Fiji School of Medicine, and Palau Community College to provide Diploma-level training in Family Practice and Community Health for Micronesian physicians.
Area Health Education Centers↗