08.16.11

Durbin Announces More Than $1.6 Million in CDC Funding to Strengthen Public Health Infrastructure

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has awarded a total of $1,662,129 in funding to two Illinois state and local government offices.

 

“We have a national responsibility to improve the anticipation, detection, and treatment of preventable infections,” said Durbin. “Today’s funding will help meet that goal as it makes it easier for health departments to better manage and exchange the important information necessary to improve American lives.”

 

The $49 million in grant funding country-wide, partly supported by the Affordable Care Act, was announced by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to improve the quality of health care and strengthen the public health infrastructure. The grants strengthen State, local and territorial health departments’ capacity to perform critical epidemiology and laboratory work, detect and prevent healthcare-associated infections and support immunization programs.

 

The following Illinois government offices and programs will receive funding:

 

  • Illinois State Department of Public Health: $744,130 in Prevention and Public Health Fund grants for Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity. This funding will go towards public health departments’ efforts to fight infectious diseases through enhanced workforce training and improved information technology.

 

  • Illinois State Department of Public Health: $779,616 in funding for Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs). HAIs are infections that patients acquire during the course of receiving health care treatment for other conditions. According to the CDC, approximately 1 out of every 20 hospitalized patients will contract an HAI, making prevention of HAIs a major public health concern.

 

  • City of Chicago: $38,383 in Affordable Care Act funding for Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity. This is the second year that the Affordable Care Act has strengthened public health departments’ capacity to fight infectious diseases through enhanced workforce training and improved information technology.

 

  • City of Chicago: $100,000 in Prevention and Public Health Fund grants for Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity. This funding will go towards public health departments’ efforts to fight infectious diseases through enhanced workforce training and improved information technology.