Webinar Explores Health Impacts of Severe Drought

The one-hour webinar on Sept. 18 is part of a series presented by CDC, the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and the American Public Health Association.

Three experts will discuss state and local governments' responses to severe droughts during a one-hour webinar beginning at 1 p.m. EDT on Sept. 18 that is being presented by CDC, the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and the American Public Health Association. It is titled "When Every Drop Counts: State and Locals Respond to Drought" and is the second webinar in a four-part series examining the health impacts of the extensive U.S. drought this year in light of past droughts.

Presenters include George Luber, Ph.D., of ATSDR, who is the moderator, as well as:

  • Tom R. Gonzales, MPH, REHS, who is public health/environmental health director for El Paso County, Colo., and a former president of the Colorado Environmental Health Association.
  • Betsy T. Kagey, Ph.D., academic and special projects liaison in the Emergency Preparedness and Response Section of the Office of Health Protection, Georgia Department of Public Health.
  • Charley English, director of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency and also Georgia's homeland security director.

As of Aug. 7, 2012, 52.27 percent of the United States and Puerto Rico was classified as experiencing moderate drought or worse, and 38.48 percent was in severe drought or worse, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor map produced by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and about 350 drought observers across the country.

Visit https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/showReg?udc=je38lxqx8dy0 to register for the webinar.