California Envirnomental Health Specialist Network

描述（由申请人提供）：EHS-Net的目标是通过加强州和地方环境卫生计划和专业人员预测、识别、评估和应对有意和无意的食品和水供应污染的能力，帮助州卫生部门改善环境卫生计划服务的提供。实现这一目标的机制是建立一个由环境卫生专家组成的网络，这些专家与州和地方各级的环境卫生方案工作人员、传染病方案工作人员、流行病学家和实验室人员合作，确定和预防导致食源性和水传播疾病和疾病爆发的环境因素。加州EHS-Net项目将继续进行正在进行的研究，以确定餐馆食源性疾病的环境因素，并将扩大该项目，包括饮用水安全以及食品安全的其他方面。此外，加州EHS-Net项目将与其他EHS-Net州合作开展特别研究。参与国的环境卫生和传染病工作人员（见下文“执行地点”）将协助这些研究项目，包括数据收集方法、数据收集和分析以及研究结果的出版。

Description (provided by Applicant): The objective of EHS-Net is to assist State health departments in improving the delivery of environmental health program services by strengthening the ability of State and local environmental health programs and professionals to anticipate, identify, evaluate and respond to both intentional and unintentional contamination of the food and water supply. The mechanism to achieve this purpose is the establishment of a network of Environmental Health Specialists (EHS) who collaborate with environmental health program staff, communicable disease program staff, epidemiologists, and laboratorians at the State and local levels to identify and prevent environmental factors that contribute to food borne and waterborne illness and disease outbreaks. The California EHS-Net project will continue on-going research to identify environmental antecedents to foodborne illness at restaurants, and will expand the project to include drinking water safety as well as other aspects of food safety. In addition, the California EHS-Net project will collaborate with other EHS-Net states to develop special research studies. Environmental health and communicable disease staff in the participating Counties (indicated in "Performance Sites" below) will assist with these research projects, including the methodology for data collection, the collection and analysis of the data, and the publication of the study results. The California EHS-Net project will be utilized to achieve the following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Environmental Health objective: "increase the capacity of state and local health departments to deliver environmental health services in the community." To fulfill this objective, California will continue to build new and strengthen existing partnerships with environmental health specialists, epidemiologists, public health and infectious disease specialists, laboratory staff, public health educators, and allied professionals at the national, State, and local levels. These partnerships will enhance the ability of local agencies to conduct foodborne and waterborne outbreak investigations and environmental surveillance activities.