We should worry more about public health!

The health care workforce (including public health professionals, clinicians, and related health care fields) in the U.S. is approaching retirement age and there is a need for a strategic plan for educating enough health care personnel to fill this gap.

This is one of the conclusions of a seminar held recently by the AAAS. I also quote from the Executive Summary:

The U.S. and many other nations have developed national pandemic influenza preparedness plans. In 2005, the World Health Assembly approved a revised version of the International Health Regulations, which requires improvement of national disease surveillance and public health infrastructures, redefines the criteria for a public health emergency of international concern, allows the World Health Organization (WHO) to use unofficial sources to identify unusual disease outbreaks, and gives WHO the authority to impose travel and trade restrictions on nations with uncontrollable disease outbreaks. In the midst of these advances in public health, the U.S. and global community have developed and implemented education programs to train relevant audiences, from first responders to public health officials, on how to prepare for and respond to infectious disease threats. Despite these efforts, there are still major challenges in developing a multi-generational and multi-disciplinary workforce that can respond to unusual infectious disease threats.

Comment: It increasingly looks like the H1N1 (swine flu) is going to be a major public health problem in the United States and even worse in many other countries. Lets hope the public health system is up to the challenge.

My old friend Steve Bennett, first trained as a physician, pointed out that when he got his Masters in Public Health his income went down, and when he got his doctorate in epidemiology it went down more. If we want to have a strong cadre of public health officials, it might be a good idea to give them respect and to pay them accordingly. JAD