News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – State and local public health departments generally maintained or improved their capabilities for testing and identifying biological agents and coordinating emergency responses in 2011, according to an annual report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on state public health preparedness.

In the wake of a newspaper investigation that questioned the value of the federal BioWatch program for detecting dangerous airborne pathogens, some public health officials familiar with the program acknowledge that it's far from perfect, but they say it's not time to scrap it.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released a new planning tool to help hospitals and health systems prepare for medical surges that could result from a bioterror attack, natural disaster, or other public health emergency.

(CIDRAP News) – Public health programs that detect and respond to bioterror events and disease outbreaks are at risk from federal and state budget cuts, a threat that could worsen over the next year if automatic across-the-board cuts kick in, according to an annual preparedness report card released today.

(CIDRAP News) – Two public health advocacy groups this week warned that recent cuts in US preparedness funding could hamstring the nation's response to a health emergency such as a bioterrorism attack, flu pandemic, or natural disaster.

(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a set of standards for public health preparedness capabilities to help state and local public health agencies set priorities and strategies in an age of budget-cutting.

(CIDRAP News) – State and local health departments have significantly improved their readiness for public health emergencies in the past few years, with laboratory capacity and emergency operations centers leading the list of improved areas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a major report released today.

(CIDRAP News) – Over the past 5 years public health has seen federal funding remain flat, but $392 million in recession-driven state funding cuts this past year are further impairing the ability of many communities to deliver basic disease prevention and emergency health preparedness services, according to a report today from two nonprofit groups.

(CIDRAP News) – Yesterday the US House of Representatives passed an $819 billion economic stimulus bill that included funding for pandemic influenza and bioterrorism countermeasures, and now the Senate will debate its version of the measure, which also includes spending on some of the same items.

(CIDRAP News) – Four organizations that represent many of the nation's public health officials issued a report yesterday detailing how 6 years of federal funding has improved preparedness, though serious challenges remain, such as hiring and training lab workers and local preparedness planners.