ISSUE

Emergency Preparedness + Response

Baltimore public health workers distribute emergency medical supplies

Cities are on the front lines of preventing and responding to public health emergencies, including natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and pandemics. Local health departments help build resilient communities by preparing residents for emergencies and helping them recover. 

Over the past decade, Congress has made this work more challenging by providing local health departments with dramatically different funding levels for different emergencies – often long after the response is already underway. BCHC advocates for sustained funding that enables local health departments to prepare well and respond quickly to emergencies as soon as they arise.

Policy recommendations

Public health preparedness at the state and local level is funded through federal cooperative agreements authorized in the Pandemic All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA).

Local health departments help build resilient communities by preparing for these emergencies and supporting residents recovering from them. Funding authorized through PAHPA is critical to that lifesaving work.

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PAHPA: Key to Public Health Emergency Preparedness

Download the brief PAHPA: Key to Public Health Emergency Preparedness

Despite a sharp increase in severe public health emergencies, preparedness funding has plummeted 30% since 2003.

Graph showing increasing number of public health emergencies vs dropping funding for public health and hospital emergency preparedness, from FY 2002 to FY 2022.
Overhead image of people standing in an outdoor square

Frontline Blog

The consequences of underfunding public health

“Over the years, federal agencies have repeatedly asked jurisdictions to take already-too-small pots of money, initially intended to fund preparedness, and spend it instead, on emergency response. The upshot is that local health departments, in particular, were left without funding to sustain the basic infrastructure needed to prepare for or respond to major day-to-day health challenges as well as public health emergencies.”

The consequences of underfunding public health Read the article
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Member spotlight

Dr. Raynard Washington sitting at a desk, speaking into a microphone, testifying before Congress

Press Release

BCHC urges Congress to reauthorize Pandemic and All-hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA)

BCHC urges Congress to reauthorize Pandemic and All-hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA) Watch clips from the hearing