NYAM Research Part of H1N1 Preparedness Discussions at City Council

On June 11, 2009, researchers from NYAM spoke at a hearing of the New York City Council Committee on Health Oversight about the City’s response to the H1N1 virus. NYAM researchers told the Committee about the importance of early community involvement in getting influenza vaccine to underserved neighborhoods and hard-to-reach populations.

NYAM researchers emphasized the limitations of current approaches to immunizing hard to reach populations.

Every year, 5% to 20% of the American population falls ill with influenza and on average 36,000 persons die from influenza-related complications. In New York City, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported a 2007 city-wide immunization rate of 54.7% for adults aged 65 and over, the population that accounts for 90% of influenza-related deaths.

Dr Danielle Ompad, and fellow researcher, Ms Keosha Bond, emphasized that an important limitation of current approaches to immunization is their inability to reach those people who are not engaged in the health care system, specifically what is known as “hard-to-reach” (HTR) populations. HTR populations have typically been defined from the perspective of the absence of regular linkage with the health care system. Although data are limited, hard-to-reach (HTR) groups such as the housebound elderly, disenfranchised groups, people living in disadvantaged urban communities, undocumented immigrants, and substance users may be less likely than individuals receiving routine health care services to receive influenza immunization

NYAM’s research focuses on this very issue in light of the limited data available addressing vaccine access among HTR populations. The Harlem Community and Academic Partnership, a network of community-based organizations and health leaders affiliated with NYAM, carried out Project VIVA (Venue Intensive Vaccines for Adults).

“We learned that our target population was not “hard-to-reach,” but rather “easy-to-miss” if we don’t walk outside our institutions and into the community,” said Dr Ompad. “Our experience also told us that involving the community in the planning and execution of vaccine distribution is key.”

NYAM recommended to the City Council to consider providing grants to community-based organizations and health providers to run targeted, culturally sensitive outreach programs with “easy-to-miss” populations and to consider providing support to allow existing health outreach programs to expand their services to provide vaccinations.

Posted on July 9, 2009

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Contact:
Andrew J. Martin
Director of Communications
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10029
212-822-7285
amartin@nyam.org

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