Agroterrorism and Rural Preparedness CDC Exemplar Group

John Shutske, Professor
Beth Rada, Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH)
Michael Meit, University of Pittsburgh
Paul Campbell, Harvard University
Joshua Frances, Harvard University

Funding Source

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Minnesota Center for Public Health Preparedness

Objective

Conduct a comprehensive assessment, evaluation, and documentation of agricultural and rural preparedness programs and activities across the United States.

Need or Impact

Numerous uncoordinated programs, research projects, and events across the U.S. focus on issues of “agroterrorism” and rural preparedness for emergency and disaster events. Often, these are duplicative and undocumented. This project, sponsored by the CDC, involved a comprehensive inventory and analysis of national programs targeted at agricultural leaders, veterinarians, health professionals, first responders, and others with interests in agroterrorism and rural public health preparedness. Policy recommendations were developed by the project team to be considered by CDC, the U.S. Congress, and stakeholders.

Project Status

Through the survey process, the team discovered more than 80 different programs and educational products focused on issues of agroterrorism and rural preparedness. These were analyzed by audience, content, and depth of coverage. Results were published by the CDC and the ASPH in the form of a “toolkit” to be made available to legislators, state and federal agency officials, and industry leaders. The toolkit will be published in an academic journal in early 2006.