The H1N1 pandemic was one of the top threats to public health in the past decade. In Champaign County, we prepared for it long before it arrived in the region. This was accomplished through the joint effort of CUPHD and the University of Illinois' College of Veterinary Medicine Geographic Information System and Spatial Analysis Lab. These two organizations worked towards a directed push for vaccinations. One of the several notable features of this drive was that collaboration, technology and infrastructure were in place long before the pandemic arrived in our community. This enabled quicker response, helped maximize available resources, resulted in a larger vaccination rate and kept the practice low cost and replicable for other communities.

Some of the public health issues addressed during the H1N1 prevention work included assessment of the community demographics, resource availability and reaching the at-risk and vulnerable population through our vaccination efforts so as to curb the impact of the pandemic.

Geographical Information Systems were employed to map the client data received from the daily H1N1 drive along with demographic information. The maps were then studied to evaluate the efficacy of the H1N1 vaccination initiatives. Gaps in planning and outreach were identified and outreach efforts were altered to make up for these inadequacies.

H1N1 Vaccination Target Areas in Fall 2009

Additional Resources

Links:
1. Flu Tracker