CDC honored for public engagement on pandemic flu

SCRC helped create earlier pilot project

by Julie Fanselow

December 3, 2007 | |

The International Association for Public Participation  has awarded its 2007 Project of the Year Award to The Keystone Center, the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Association of State and Territorial Health Organizations (ASTHO) for their efforts to put the public into public health.

The award  – presented at IAP2’s Skills Symposium in Scottsdale, Arizona, on November 15 – recognized the Public Engagement Project on Community Control Measures Against Pandemic Influenza, a series of meetings held last fall and winter in Atlanta, Georgia; Syracuse, New York; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Seattle, Washington. At the meetings, local residents were asked to offer input into how to prepare for pandemic flu, deter the spread of influenza, and keep communities safer during an influenza outbreak.

It was the second of three similar projects that the CDC has led in recent years. In remarks prepared for the awards ceremony, senior advisor for scientific strategy and innovation Roger Bernier described how the CDC – in conjunction with The Keystone Center and the Study Circles Resource Center – first came up with its public engagement model. Through the Public Engagement Pilot Project on Pandemic Influenza, or PEPPPI, the partners engaged 400 citizens at large from the four different regions of the country as well as about 40 professionals from stakeholder organizations to learn about and discuss a pending CDC decision. “In 2005, we tackled the real life difficult question of who first to vaccinate in the event of an influenza pandemic when vaccine supplies will be inadequate to protect everyone,” he recalled.

“This pilot test of our new model was successful and gave convincing proof that citizens and professionals with diverse backgrounds could dialogue and deliberate together on a difficult issue and reach agreement on the best decision to make,” Bernier said. “The US Department of Health and Human Services gave consideration to our findings and included the citizen viewpoint in transmitting its national policy guidance in November 2005 to all 50 states on who should get limited supplies of vaccine during a pandemic.”

With the successful pilot project completed, the CDC wanted to engage the public and stakeholders to discuss the possible tradeoffs that might be made in the early stages of a pandemic to slow the spread of disease before a vaccine becomes available. Participants were asked to weigh, for example, whether to close schools, cancel large public gatherings, and keep not just sick people but their other household members at home. More than 300 people took part.

 

“Results showed considerable public support for taking aggressive measures to slow the spread of disease even though these measures would be socially disruptive and economically punishing to many families and businesses,” said Bernier, who has also been named a 2006 Purpose Prize fellow for his public engagement work. The government considered the results and included them in a national statement issued in early 2007. “This is not talk just for the sake of talking, but talking that is heard and adds value to the decision making,” Bernier added.

IAP2 said in a press release about the award, “The project has helped spread the practice of public participation in policy and decision-making at CDC and proves that public engagement in an important federal agency is possible and productive.”

Bernier said the CDC is now working to “extend the work on pandemic influenza vaccine and flu control measures to the broader array of public health activities beyond vaccines and infectious diseases.” In fact, the agency held a public engagement workshop earlier this fall to identify past lessons and discuss ways to move forward.

Jon Abercrombie, a senior associate of the Study Circle Resource Center and lead facilitator for the PEPPPI's Atlanta dialogue on flu vaccination, greeted news of the IAP2 award, saying, "When the CDC took the risk to create citizen conversations about allocating precious vaccine in a pandemic, they demonstrated that ordinary citizens can think about complicated issues creatively. Citizens showed they would even choose options that would exclude their own family for the safety of the greater community."

Bernier noted that public engagement is valuable because “it produces better decisions, it produces more possible support for the implementation of decisions, and it is the right thing to do in a democracy.” But, he added, public participation also helps people have a greater sense of control over their lives, which can itself improve health and help people prevent chronic disease.

“Dreaming big, our more participatory approach to decision making could help point the way forward to more effective action for experts and citizens in a healthy and health-bestowing democracy,” he said. The challenge, he added, is helping greater numbers of public officials – and the public itself –­ see that increased citizen engagement is in their professional and personal interest and that it can help us “achieve better, more implementable decisions and a healthier, more empowered public.”