A few weeks ago Trust for America's Health came out with a report which looked at how well prepared states are for public health emergencies i.e. disease outbreak, bioterrorist attacks and natural disasters.
Researchers looked at 10 key indicators most states did not stack up all that well:
- 5 states scored with 8 out of 10 (Maryland included on this list)
- 35 states and Washington, DC scored 6 or lower out of 10
Not surprisingly, states have been cutting public health funding over the past few years. Federal funds for state and local preparedness have decreased 38% from 2005 to 2012. While many placed a priority on preparedness after September 11, 2001 and improvements have been made over the last 10 years, state and local health departments have had to make hard decisions as to what is and is not funded due to budget cuts.
Some of the recommendations made by the report include filling many of the major gaps in public health emergency preparedness. Here are just a few:
- Reauthorize the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, which expires at the end of 2012.
- Guarantee sufficient funds for public health preparedness to ensure that public health departments have the basic capabilities to respond to threats they face every day and have trained experts and systems in place to act quickly in case of major, unexpected emergencies.
- Provide continuing support to communities so they can better cope and recover from emergencies.
- Improve biosurveillance to better detect and respond to problems.
- Take stronger action against antibiotic resistance.
- Improve research, development and manufacturing of medical countermeasures.
- Increase readiness for extreme weather events, and update the nation's food safety system.
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