NACCHO - call for applications | |
| | Rachel Kachur: on February 02, 2010 at 10:32:31 AM |
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NACCHO
Adolescent HIV, STI, and Unintended Pregnancy Prevention Peer Technical Assistance
Call for Applications: February 12, 2010
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Call for Applications: Adolescent HIV, STI, and Unintended Pregnancy Peer Technical Assitance
Would you like to receive technical assistance from local health departments (LHDs) who have successfully implemented HIV, STI, and/or Unintended Pregnancy Programs?
Do you have burning questions about implementing a certain type of HIV, STI, or Unintended Pregnancy Prevention strategy?
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) is offering facilitated peer connections and peer technical assistance (TA) via conference call, web-based meetings, and/or in-person meetings to local health departments (LHDs) to improve their capacity to develop or enhance adolescent HIV, STI, and/or unintended pregnancy prevention programs. This opportunity will allow LHDs interested in establishing or improving programs to benefit from the expertise, experience, and knowledge of past NACCHO peer TA recipients, NACCHO demonstration sites, and other LHDs with significant experience in this area.
NACCHO will select up to three LHDs from the applications submitted to participate in this peer TA opportunity.
Eligibility
Be a dues-paying member of NACCHO. Click | Video on STDs - featuring some of our own | |
| | Rachel Kachur: on January 07, 2010 at 08:21:17 AM | |
http://www.besmartbewell.com/std/
Video from the BCBS website - Be Smart. Be Well. - featuring interviews with John Douglas, Lynn Barclay and Will Wong. There is a whole series of STD related videos.
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| Your comments needed re: Paperwork Reducution Act | |
| | Rachel Kachur: on October 29, 2009 at 12:04:12 PM | |
Yesterday (10/27/2009) OMB published a 60-day Federal Register Notice (FRN) requesting comments for "Improving Implementation of the Paperwork Reduction Act". The 60-day can be viewed via the following link.
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-25757.pdf
"This important document is requesting comment on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review process and the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). There are some key issues that are being reviewed. For instance, this notice mentions the possibility that voluntary data collection has different issues than mandatory data collection and asks whether that is something that should be addressed in assessing the PRA - a distinction that could have a direct impact on research and other voluntary data collection. In addition, the document asks for comment on the impact of the Paperwork Reduction Act and OMB review on efficiency and timeliness for agencies such as CDC."
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| Wireless Innovation Project winners announced | |
| | Rachel Kachur: on May 11, 2009 at 09:44:10 AM | |
http://www.theworld.org/node/26216
The Vodafone Americas Foundation is a non-profit arm of the global mobile giant Vodafone. The Foundation recently ran a competition called the Wireless Innovation Project. It invited innovators to come forward with ideas on how new wireless technologies can solve problems around the world. More than 100 applicants sent in their ideas. Vodafone then chose three projects to fund. These are the winners:
ANTs
Active Networked Tags for Disaster Recovery Applications - Columbia University
A system that uses wireless devices to track and locate survivors trapped by fires and structural collapse. The system is based on energy harvesting tags using ultra low power communications.
CellScope
Bioengineering Department, University of California at Berkeley -- A conventional cell phone is transformed into a compact, high-resolution, handheld microscope with the capability of on-site disease diagnosis and wireless transmission of patient data to clinical centers for remote diagnosis & treatment.
CelloPhone
UCLA -- A lensfree imaging platform on a cellphone for disease detection and diagnostics using digital holograms of the cells or bacteria, that is capable of monitoring HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and various other diseases.
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| | Opportunity for middle and HS teachers to learn Epi | |
| | Rachel Kachur: on February 12, 2009 at 01:46:04 PM | |
Teach Epidemiology Professional Development Workshop
CDC's Global Health Odyssey Museum is excited to partner with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to offer a free five-day teacher workshop on teaching epidemiology in the middle and high school classroom. Participants will develop an understanding of the fundamental principles of epidemiology and will be prepared to begin immediate use of standards-rich existing epidemiology education materials in their classrooms. The workshop is appropriate for middle and high school teachers of science, mathematics, health, language arts, and social studies, coaches and mentors of students entering the Science Olympiad’s Disease Detective event, and the Young Epidemiology Scholars Competition.
The Teach Epidemiology Professional Development Workshop, led by epidemiologist Diane Marie St. George, PhD, and health educator Mark Kaelin, EdD, will be held at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia from June 8-12, 2009. Three (3) Professional Learning Units will be awarded for workshop participation. The workshop is free of cost, and breakfast and lunch will be provided each day. Attendees must commit to attending each day, and actively participating. Attendees must show valid government -issued ID to enter the CDC campus. Information about parking and logistics will be e-mailed to all registered attendees prior to the workshop.
To find out more about workshop content, please visit http://www.teachepidemiology.org. To apply, please click on "CDC Workshop" and complete the "Application and Agreement" by April 8, 2009. Applications will be reviewed in April 2009 and you will be notified of your acceptance by May 1, 2009.
To preview the teaching units used during the workshop, please visit http://www.collegeboard.com/yes.
For additional questions, please contact Trudi Ellerman at tbothmaellerman@cdc.gov or (404) 639-0829.
Dates: June 8-12, 2009 Monday -- Thursday, 9:00AM-4:00PM, Friday, 9:00AM - 1:00PM
Cost: Free, with lunch and breakfast provided
Location: CDC's Tom Harkin Global Communications Center, 1600 Clifton Road at CDC Parkway,
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| Family Health International - a wealth of info & resources | |
| | Rachel Kachur: on February 11, 2009 at 10:33:43 AM | |
I've always known about FHI (sort of) but only after talking with someone there did I realize that their website stores a wealth of information. If you click on the "Publications" link from their home page - http://www.fhi.org/en/index.htm - you can find resources on HIV/AIDS, Reproductive Health and Youth. The resources are relevant to both domestic and international populations.
I've included an example of a Youth resource here:
Youth-Friendly Services: An Annotated Web-Based Guide to Available Resources
www.fhi.org/en/Youth/YouthNet/ProgramsAreas/
YouthFriendlyServices/index.htm
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| | | Rachel Kachur: on February 06, 2009 at 01:25:29 PM | |
http://www.nakedtruth.idaho.gov/overview.aspx
This winter, the Idaho Family Planning, STD, and HIV Program is working to increase knowledge of STD and HIV and to promote traffic to the www.nakedtruth.idaho.gov STD and HIV prevention Website using a fun, youth-oriented online quiz regarding STD and HIV facts. The questions were based on common misconceptions found in a telephone survey of more than 500 15- to 24-year-olds in Idaho, conducted in late 2007, that showed Idaho youth had numerous misconceptions about STDs and HIV. The Website and quiz are being promoted using palm cards, with one quiz question (without the answer) and an attractive graphic. The cards are being distributed to 15- to 24-year-olds at clinics, coffee shops, and bars. The card directs the reader to the Website to get the correct answer and to take a longer version of the quiz. Readers also can place a widget to the Website on their MySpace homepage. The questions were written by the STD Prevention staff and then given to members of a local youth group, “Youth in the Know,” to pilot the quiz and make sure the terminology and humor was relevant to young people. The site began in April of 2008 and has had an average of 933 visitors each month (excluding bounce backs). The average visitor stays on the site for 2.5 minutes and checks out 3.45 pages. One of the most popular pages on the site is the list of clinic locations and hours.
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| SF saw 'dramatic' syphilis rise in '08 | |
| | Rachel Kachur: on February 05, 2009 at 10:08:39 AM | 
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http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=3695
by Matthew S. Bajkom.bajko@ebar.com |
Syphilis cases in San Francisco spiked upward last year, ending a three-year decline in rates of the sexually transmitted disease.
The reversal of fortune in the city's effort to eliminate cases of the STD has prompted health officials to revive their Healthy Penis campaign, which will return next week. The successful social marketing effort had been retired in 2006, after a five-year run.
According to preliminary data for 2008, the city recorded a 66 percent increase in primary and secondary cases of syphilis, a rise of 339 cases last year compared to the 204 cases reported in 2007. Total early syphilis cases rose 55 percent, going from 472 cases in 2007 to 658 cases last year.
In 2005, the city recorded a total of 551 cases of syphilis. The nearly 30 percent drop in cases that year ended a seven-year surge in syphilis cases in San Francisco.
Health officials described the upswing in cases last year as "dramatic" in the city's monthly STD report issued January 27, which detailed data for all of 2008 as well as the month of December. The rise was not unexpected, as the Bay Area Reporter had reported in October that data for the first six months of 2008 pointed to an upward climb in syphilis cases.
"I think it is a real concern. Syphilis can make people sick, can make people more likely to acquire and transmit HIV infections, and can have lots of serious health outcomes," said Dr. Ken Katz, epidemic intelligence service officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assigned to San Francisco.
Katz, who is no relation to Health Director Dr. Mitch Katz, is leading up the city's response to stem the rising tide in STDs. He noted that syphilis is curable and the best prevention strategy for gay men who are sexually active is to get tested and screened for the STD every three to six months.
State STD officials will be meeting with their local counterparts this month to
View Full | | | | | | Rachel Kachur: on February 03, 2009 at 07:59:45 AM | |
http://www.americanwaymag.com/jeremy-bailenson-virtual-
reality-stanford-university-virtual-human-interaction-lab
My thoughts on this article - if participating in virtual world activities is a proven stimulus for real world behaviors, what impact does this have on real world sex, since virtual sex is a popular activity? The author of this article writes "We are encouraged to believe that our goals are attainable by seeing them played out on-screen." And all I can think is "Oh, Lord."
Reality Bytes
by Ken Parish Perkins
Jeremy Bailenson | virtual reality | Stanford University | Virtual Human Interaction Lab
Whether you dream of having a smaller waistline or greater self-confidence, advancing technology can help you become whomever you want to be.
A HORN HONKS. Tires screech on the pavement. Out of nowhere, a car comes careening toward me. I dodge out of the way, and it narrowly misses me. All of a sudden, I’m in the middle of an earthquake. The ground is shaking, and debris is falling from the sky. Just as quickly, I’m standing before a 30- foot pit. I have no choice but to leap into it, and I land with a thud.
Yet I escape with no broken bones, no concussion, not even so much as a scratch. That’s because what I’m experiencing isn’t actually happening. Rather, it’s being controlled on a nearby computer monitor by Stanford PhD candidate Kathryn Segovia. A $25,000 helmet atop my head is my personal transportation device, zapping me to different places and situations with the touch of a button.
The technology here at the Virtual Human Interaction Lab at Stanford University is cooler than any ride at Disney World and more entertaining than anything the wizards behind the Nintendo Wii have conjured up. Studies being done with this program are showing that virtual reality can do much more than just entertain in the form of video games like Second Life. Researchers here believe this technology can make you lose weight, be a better student, and have more confidence. It can even help you save for retirement. Basically, it can build a better you, one false "reality" at a time.
Professor
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