Current and Training Needs of Public Health Practitioners in Countermeasures against Infections in Local Communities

Abstract

  Public health practitioners must use specialist knowledge to deploy countermeasures against outbreaks of infectious disease in local communities. A questionnaire was sent to 147 public health practitioners attached to 47 prefectural administration offices and 100 public health centers run by designated cities (city public health centers). The questionnaire intended to identify difficulties encountered by the public health practitioners in performing their duties, and to determine their participation status and training needs. The response rate was 36.7% (54/147). Compared with prefectural administration offices, city public health centers generally appeared to be more active in anti-infection activities involving medical surveillance and educational settings. This indicates that city public health centers put community-associated countermeasures in place whereas prefectural administration offices have administrative functions. A high proportion of public health practitioners (70–80%) were involved in promotion activities and consultation on anti-infectious disease measures. A small proportion of the public health practitioners (≤30%) found some of their anti-infectious disease duties particularly difficult. A majority of the public health practitioners had participated in anti-tuberculosis seminars/training, and approximately 60% recognized the need for such seminars/training. High training needs were found for “multi-drug resistant bacteria,” “vaccination,” “human T-lymphotropic virus 1,” “sexually transmitted diseases,” and “anti-infectious diseases health guidance,” but low participation rates in such seminars and training should be addressed in the future. High training needs were also identified for “new influenza strains” and “responses to infectious disease outbreaks.” Seminars and training on crisis management for anti-infectious disease measures were the most desired provisions among the public health practitioners.