A planning checklist for widespread severe acute respiratory syndrome, modeled on an Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) pandemic influenza planning checklist, was developed jointly by ASTHO, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This checklist, distributed May 2003, has been widely used.

Background. Limited physical activity (PA) is a risk factor for childhood obesity. In Netherlands, as in many other countries worldwide, local policy officials bear responsibility for integrated PA policies, involving both health and nonhealth domains. In practice, its development seems hampered. We explore which obstacles local policy officials perceive in their effort. Methods. Fifteen semist...

BACKGROUND In the Netherlands, local authorities are required by law to develop local health memoranda, based on epidemiological analyses. The purpose of this study was to assess the actual use of these epidemiological reports by municipal health officials and associated factors that affect this use. METHOD Based on a conceptual framework, we designed a questionnaire in which we operationaliz...

Infectious disease surveillance, timely detection and early warning of outbreaks present a complex challenge to health authorities in India. Approaches based on the use of unexplored data sources, like emergency medical services (EMS) data, can contribute to the further advancement of public health surveillance capacities in India and support and strengthen the Integrated Disease Surveillance P...

BACKGROUND The oral health condition and lifestyle in term of tobacco use and alcohol consumption of custodian of prisons have been left unstudied. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of tobacco use, alcohol consumption and self-rated oral health among Nigerian prison officials. METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted among prison officials working in Abuja, Nas...

concerns regarding the trans-pacific partnership (tpp) have raised awareness about the negative public health impacts of trade and investment agreements. in the past decade, we have learned much about the implications of trade agreements for public health: reduced equity in access to health services; increased flows of unhealthy commodities; limits on access to medicines; and constrained policy...

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the hepatotoxicity as well as antioxidants activities of hydromethanolic extract of six common traditional species (Origanum vulgar, Pterocarya fraxinifolia, Ferula assafoetida, Artemisia dracunculus, Rosmarinus officinalis, and Valerian officinalis) in order to find a safe antioxidant source. Methods: This research project was perf...

Recognizing that planners' decisions affect the public's health, some public health officials are becoming more involved in city and regional planning. This article describes city and regional planning fundamentals to help public health practitioners better understand plan making and plan implementation, including the development project review process; provides examples of how three local publ...