(#1) Disaster health information courses and supporting materials are now available from the Disaster Information Management Research Center at the National Library of Medicine. The courses are open to anyone at no cost and are approved for Medical Library Association (MLA) continuing education credit. See below for links to course materials.

Course materials may be used and adapted by anyone giving presentations or classes on this content. When using or adapting materials, please give credit to the original course authors and NLM. We’d like to hear about your use of these course materials and what DIMRC can offer (improve) that would make it easier for you to teach this material. Are you interested in being an online or classroom instructor for one or more of these courses? We are compiling a list of current and potential instructors for future mailings: please send your name, title, organization, city, state/country to Katie Chan, katie.chan@nih.gov.

(#2) Results of National Health Security Preparedness Index Released. The Association for State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and 20 development partners released the first annual National Health Security Preparedness Index (NHSPI) to measure and advance the nation’s readiness to protect people during a disaster. The 2013 NHSPI is primarily made up of public health and health care system measures. This is the first year the index has been compiled, but it will be updated annually, and the coverage of topics will expand over time.