Georgia Ranks 43rd in Protecting Kids from Tobacco

/PRNewswire/ -- Georgia ranks 43rd in the nation in funding programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, according to a national report released today by a coalition of public health organizations.

Georgia currently spends $2 million a year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, which is 1.8 percent of the $116.5 million recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Other key findings for Georgia include:

* Georgia this year will collect $369 million from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend just 0.6 percent of it on tobacco prevention programs.
* The tobacco companies spend $426.4 million a year to market their products in Georgia. This is 209 times what the state spends on tobacco prevention.


The annual report on states' funding of tobacco prevention programs, titled "A Broken Promise to Our Children: The 1998 State Tobacco Settlement 12 Years Later," was released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung Association and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

In addition to its lack of funding for tobacco prevention, Georgia's cigarette tax is only 37 cents per pack, which is the 48th lowest in the nation and well below the national average of $1.45 per pack. Increasing the cigarette tax is a proven way to reduce smoking, especially among kids.

"Georgia again is one of the most disappointing states and has failed to make the commitment needed to protect kids from tobacco," said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "To reduce tobacco use and help balance the state budget at the same time, Governor-elect Deal and the Legislature should raise the tobacco tax and increase funding for tobacco prevention. Even in these difficult budget times, tobacco prevention investment that saves lives and saves money by reducing health care costs."

In Georgia, 16.9 percent of high school students smoke, and 11,400 more kids become regular smokers every year. Each year, tobacco claims 10,500 lives and costs the state $2.25 billion in health care bills.

Nationally, the report finds that most states are failing to adequately fund programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit. Altogether, the states have cut funding for these programs to the lowest level since 1999, when they first started receiving tobacco settlement payments. Key national findings of the report include:

* The states this year will collect $25.3 billion from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend just two percent of it – $517.9 million – on tobacco prevention programs.
* States have cut funding for tobacco prevention programs by nine percent ($51.4 million) in the past year and by 28 percent ($199.3 million) in the past three years.
* Only two states – Alaska and North Dakota – currently fund tobacco prevention programs at the CDC-recommended level.


The report warns that the nation's progress in reducing smoking is at risk unless states increase funding for programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit. The United States has significantly reduced smoking among both youth and adults, but 20.6 percent of adults and 19.5 percent of high school students still smoke.

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S., killing more than 400,000 people and costing $96 billion in health care bills each year.

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Lockheed Martin Successfully Demonstrates Use of Simulation in a Strategic National Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Exercise

/PRNewswire/ -- Using several military training applications adapted for the civil environment, Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) demonstrated that a complex higher fidelity simulation exercise could ultimately lower training costs while maintaining a high level of readiness for federal and state emergency operations centers.

Should a major city or region be faced with a release of biological agents, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Division of Strategic National Stockpile (DSNS) would distribute large quantities of pharmaceutical supplies to state agencies. To test the distribution system, the DSNS would normally conduct a full scale exercise moving supplies to a state under simulated emergency conditions. But the magnitude of such an exercise could cost several million dollars. Enter SIMAN, or the "Stockpile in Motion Across the Nation" simulation training program developed by Lockheed Martin for the DSNS.

SIMAN is based on a variety of military training programs which have been adapted for civil application. It replicates the operations of warehouse distribution and receiving, simulates ground and air transport vehicles carrying medical countermeasures and other medical supplies to state governments and provides an after action review capability to allow DSNS to determine the effectiveness of its distribution network. It simulates not only the movement of materials, but also exercises the situational awareness of exercise participants and even includes simulated television news broadcasts of the event.

"The objective of the exercise was to ensure that the SIMAN simulation could accurately simulate the DSNS processes for delivery of millions of doses of drugs and other medical material within 24 hours of the incident and that the simulation accurately replicated the operational environment," said Dale Bennett, President of Lockheed Martin Simulation, Training & Support "The simulation performed extremely well and the exercise was a deemed a success by the participants and CDC senior personnel."

The two-day exercise took place earlier this year over a 34 hour period and was one of the largest distributed exercises ever performed by the DSNS. It involved more than 100 people and simulated the movement of several thousand pallets of supplies using nearly 200 trucks and 11 aircraft. The consensus view of those participating was that SIMAN was easy to use and the simulation improved the realism of the overall exercise. Since the exercise, the CDC has awarded Lockheed Martin a two-year follow-on contract for $2.3 million, to provide additional capabilities for SIMAN and to assist with supporting future exercises.

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Online H1N1 Flu Response Center Taps Emory Assessment Tool

A new web site has been launched by Microsoft Corp. providing users with a H1N1 Self-Assessment tool developed by medical and public health experts at Emory University.

Called H1N1 Response Center, the web site is designed to help people decide what to do if they are worried that they or someone they love has symptoms of the flu, the site offers consumers a self-assessment tool licensed from Emory. The tool helps individuals determine whether the symptoms they have could be caused by the flu virus, whether their illness is severe enough to warrant immediate medical attention, and whether they are at increased risk for developing severe disease. The site also offers practical advice on what to do.

The clinical content of the web site is closely based on a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) algorithm for health professionals designed for the 2009-2010 flu season, jointly developed with Emory School of Medicine.

With the current H1N1 flu pandemic underway, public health officials are concerned that critical health care resources could be stretched thin if everyone with the flu symptoms rushes to the nearest ER or doctor's office to determine what to do. Although the flu, including 2009 H1N1 flu, can cause serious illness and death in some people, the majority of people who get the flu will have a have a relatively mild form of illness that gets better on its own.

"Certain people are more vulnerable to the effects of the H1N1 flu virus than others," says Arthur Kellermann, MD, professor of emergency medicine and an associate dean at the Emory School of Medicine. "This website is carefully designed to encourage those who are severely ill, and those at increased risk for serious illness to contact their doctor, while reassuring large numbers of people with mild illness that it is safe to recover at home."

"Hopefully, providing easy to understand information to the public will reduce the number of people who are needlessly exposed to H1N1 influenza in crowded clinic and ER waiting rooms, and allow America's doctors and nurses to focus their attention on those who need us most," adds Kellermann.

Called the Strategy for Off-Site Rapid Triage (SORT) the concept was created and developed by an interdisciplinary team at Emory led by Alexander Isakov, MD, MPH and Kellermann. Microsoft's web site is designed communicates complex health information in simple terms that the public can understand. The content and images used in the site were developed and field- tested with more than 100 community volunteers by the Emory@Grady Health Literacy Team, which includes Ruth Parker, MD, and Lorenzo DiFrancesco, MD, of Emory's School of Medicine, and Kara Jacobson, MPH, of Emory's Rollins School of Public Health.

Emory's algorithm and the idea of using a web-based tool to help flu patients decide what to do is endorsed by the American College of Emergency Physicians, the nation's leading organization for the specialty of emergency medicine.

Visit www.h1n1responsecenter.com to find the H1N1 assessment tool.


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