by Lloyd F. Novick, MD, MPH

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This first 2017 issue of the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice (JPHMP) marks our twenty-third year of publication. As we move into our third decade, major changes are underway to make our content more accessible to readers and to disseminate our findings more widely to those interested in the health of the public. We have actively been working with Delta Think on strategic planning to enhance the role of JPHMP as a trusted research-to-practice resource filling a unique niche by providing relevant information on public health.  You will also note that the articles in the January issue display a new format after a redesign. Two new article types are planned for 2017: public health case studies and rapid responses. The case studies, beginning with the March issue, will present notable public health events presented in a business school format. The rapid response articles, planned with the National Network of Public Health Institutes, will review emerging topics of importance with input from the Health and Human Services Public Health Training Centers contributing in their area of specialization. These changes, including our greatly expanded social media presence, will be described in more detail in our March issue.

The issue focus is disaster preparedness, beginning with an article “Containment of Ebola and Polio in Low-Resource Settings Using Principles and Practices of Emergency Operations Centers in Public Health.” The lead author is Faisal Shuaib who served as the head of the Nigeria Ebola Operations Center during the July-October 2014 outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria. The article ascribes the successful Ebola response in Nigeria to political commitment, engagement of the population, and effective use of an Emergency Operations Center. Sell and colleagues describe concerns in the United States about a potential Ebola outbreak linked to the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic in West Africa. They outline the various state policies concerning management of individuals within the US who may have been exposed to Ebola, including a description of some states enacting aggressive quarantine policies and movement restriction.

Behrooz Behbob, Environmental Change Department, Public Health England, describes the mechanism of health registers in five nations — England, France, Italy, Netherlands, and the US — for the management and prevention of public health impacts following major environmental incidents. A register is a compilation of records of individuals with standardized data that can be used as a tool for public health response in a range of disasters, including chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or natural. Other articles in the issue deal with hospital evacuation following Hurricane Sandy, factors associated with disaster resilient communities, use of volunteers in emergencies, congregate disaster shelters, and mass fatality incidents.

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Lloyd F. Novick, MD, MPH is the Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice and Professor Emeritus of the Department of Public Health at the Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University. Follow him on Twitter. [Full Bio]