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From Lisa Schnirring at CIDRAP (Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy) News, we get an overview of this week's webinar held by CIDRAP's Dr. Michael Osterholm and risk communications expert Dr. Peter Sandman on pandemic preparations for businesses.
I'll just post the opening couple of paragraphs. Be assured there is plenty of good information in this article, and it is well worth following the link to read it in its entirety.
Businesses urged to avoid pandemic planning pitfalls
Lisa Schnirring
Staff Writer
Oct 9, 2008 (CIDRAP News) – The current financial crisis may be pulling time and resources away from business pandemic planning, but two experts on the topic today told corporate leaders they can improve their firms' survivability during a global health emergency by avoiding specific mistakes.
The two—infectious disease expert Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH, and risk communications expert Peter Sandman, PhD—spoke at a webinar today that was sponsored by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) Business Source, an online infectious-disease preparedness resource for business. Osterholm directs CIDRAP, based at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and Sandman is a risk communication consultant from Princeton, N.J. About 326 people from 83 sites took part in the webinar.
Osterholm and Sandman told the group that business pandemic planners face tough challenges, not only in managing problems caused by the financial markets, but also in keeping the preparedness momentum going amid "pandemic planning fatigue."
You'd be hard pressed to find two people who would be more knowledgeable in their respective fields than Dr. Osterholm and Dr. Sandman. Together, they present 7 important pandemic planning pitfalls to avoid.
CIDRAP is one of the best infectious disease resources on the Internet. Not only for avian flu, but for many other emerging threats.
The caliber of science reporting from CIDRAP Editor Robert Roos, news reporter Lisa Schnirring, and contributing writer Maryn McKenna are second to none.
Peter Sandman's website is also a wonderful resource on the issues of risk communications. Businesses pay big bucks for his counsel, but you can glean much of his wisdom from the scores of articles and essays on his site.
Both are highly recommended.
