TFAH Applauds Release of CDC's State-Specific Public Health Emergency Preparedness...

TFAH Applauds Release of CDC's State-Specific Public Health Emergency
Preparedness Report

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a statement
from Jeff Levi, PhD, Executive Director of Trust for America's Health (TFAH)
in response to today's release of Public Health Preparedness: Mobilizing State
by State -- A CDC Report on the Public Health Emergency Preparedness
Cooperative Agreement:

"The CDC's release of information about progress states have made to improve
public health emergency preparedness is an important step forward for
transparency and accountability. The report demonstrates the hard work and
accomplishments of our nation's public health agencies.

Americans deserve to know how their taxpayer dollars are being used to help
protect them against health threats. This represents the first time the CDC
has released details about the progress each state has made with the funds
allocated for public health preparedness after the September 11, 2001 and
anthrax tragedies. By providing information about progress as well as
shortcomings, this report allows policymakers and the public to better
understand the need for a committed, sustained investment to maintain and
improve preparedness to respond to public health emergencies. We look forward
to future reports that contain more timely information that closely tracks the
performance standards required in the recently passed Pandemic and All Hazards
Preparedness Act.

In December 2007, TFAH released the fifth annual 'Ready or Not? Protecting the
Public's Health from Disease, Disasters, and Bioterrorism' report, which found
that while important progress has been made, critical areas of the nation's
emergency health preparedness effort still require attention. The report
warned that funding for the public health emergency preparedness cooperative
agreements has been significantly cut over the past 5 years, reducing the
ability of states to adequately protect their communities. It would be tragic
if future assessments of state preparedness showed declines because we have
withdrawn funding just as we are seeing a return on the investment toward
preparedness."

TFAH's "Ready or Not?" report contains state-by-state health preparedness
scores based on 10 key indicators to assess health emergency preparedness
capabilities. All 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) were
evaluated. Thirty-seven states and D.C. scored eight or higher on the scale
of 10 indicators. Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia scored the highest with 10 out of 10.
Iowa, Mississippi, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Wyoming scored the lowest with six
out of 10.

Trust for America's Health is a non-profit, non-partisan organization
dedicated to saving lives by protecting the health of every community and
working to make disease prevention a national priority.
http://www.healthyamericans.org.

SOURCE Trust for America's Health

Laura Segal of the Trust for America's Health, +1-202-223-9870 ext. 27,
lsegal@tfah.org