U.S. Senator Brian Schatz’s office in Washington, D.C., reported Friday morning that the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services announced that Hawaii will receive more than $1 million in federal grant funding to fight Zika.

“This funding will help support efforts to protect Hawaii from Zika and other mosquito-borne illnesses,” said U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai’i), a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. “Being able to protect ourselves from the threat of a locally-transmitted Zika infection means being prepared and knowing how to respond.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awarded a total of $1,027,623 to the Hawaii State Dept. of Health for Zika preparedness and response activities.

Funding will help with the coordination of health incident management and emergency operations, improve information management and sharing, and strengthen community recovery and resilience for the state.

The state plans to use the new funding to:

  • Plan and implement statewide training exercises with each county to test Zika response plans.
  • Fund a communications staff position dedicated to arbovirus public information and awareness outreach.
  • Develop and maintain improved webpages for Hawaii Dept. of Health programs involved in Zika preparedness and response.
  • Procure and implement Zika enhancements for Hawaii’s electronic disease surveillance system.
  • Conduct community-based outreach in collaboration with private and public sector partners statewide.
  • Develop educational resources to reach at-risk populations including pregnant women, travelers, limited-English speaking communities, and other vulnerable populations.
  • Develop other targeted outreach that will focus on providing resources for healthcare providers to post and disseminate at clinician offices and other healthcare facilities as well as engaging and empowering youth in actively contributing to disease prevention messaging.

The state relaunched an expanded and revamped “Fight the Bite” campaign Thursday in light of the growing global threat of Zika.