The resources here are relevant to the latest strain of influenza, type A H1N1 virus, commonly known as Swine Flu. Church World Service staff continue to monitor the spread of Swine Flu. CWS Emergency Response personnel are engaged in regular briefings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the event the disaster response community would need to become further involved. CWS is providing denominational and faith-based partners with these resources on how to prevent the spread of the infection and what congregations can do in their communities should an outbreak occur.

 What is Swine Influenza?
Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza virus that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza in pigs. Swine flu viruses cause high levels of illness and low death rates in pigs. Swine influenza viruses may circulate among swine throughout the year, but most outbreaks occur during the late fall and winter months similar to outbreaks in humans. The classical swine flu virus (an influenza type A H1N1 virus) was first isolated from a pig in 1930.

 By The Associated Press – Fri Apr 24, 6:45 pm ET

Mexico is contending with an outbreak of swine flu, suspected in the deaths of dozens of people and sickening perhaps 1,000. In the United States, at least eight cases have been confirmed with the infection, all of them in California and Texas; only one person was hospitalized. Here are some questions and answers about the illness:

Q. What is swine flu?

A. Swine flu is a respiratory illness in pigs caused by a virus. The swine flu virus routinely causes outbreaks in pigs but doesn't usually kill many of them.

 U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) spent today in closed-door meetings with doctors, nurses, patients and others with a stake in the future of America's health care system, gathering an arsenal of complaints and concerns he plans to take to the talks in Washington, D.C.

 Church World Service Kits are small packages of supplies assembled by volunteers and shipped to people in need around the world. CWS provides School Kits, Hygiene Kits, Baby Kits, and Emergency Clean-up Buckets. The contents of each Kit have been selected with care based on years of experience to make them as useful as possible, wherever and whenever they are sent.

 WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - Reform of the U.S. healthcare system is vital this year because of growing costs and worsening care, the Health and Human Services Department said in a report on Monday.

 Building the Foundation for a Healthy America

Despite our best efforts, Americans are not as healthy as they should be. Although we spend more on health care than any other country, the health system is failing and our nation is falling behind in many important measures of what it means to be healthy. We have reached a point where we must examine our health system and the foundation upon which it stands.

 

 NEW YORK (CNN) -- Austin Horse talks about his collision with a taxi cab with the sort of droll indifference you might expect from a 24-year-old.

 STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. – The health care safety net is straining. Just look at Jeffrey Taylor's parking lot. Taylor oversees a community health center for the poor in this suburb a dozen miles east of downtown Atlanta. The center, a modest one-story brick building on a hillside, has never been busier. People who recently lost their jobs and health insurance fill the waiting rooms, and their cars jam into the clinic's 50-space parking lot — with much of the overflow ending up at the nightclub next door.