A Brief History and Overview of CDC's Centers for Public Health Preparedness Cooperative Agreement Program

Abstract

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded the Centers for Public Health Preparedness (CPHP) Cooperative Agreement program from 2004 through 2010. CDC gave approximately $134 million to 27 CPHPs within accredited schools of public health to enhance the relationship between academia and state and local health agencies to strengthen public health preparedness. Over the course of the program, CPHPs provided education and training services that met public health preparedness and response needs throughout the United States. The passage of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act in 2006 has had broad implications for the Department of Health and Human Services' future preparedness and response activities. Guidelines were established giving accredited schools of public health eligibility to receive federal grants to carry out the continual development and delivery of core curricula and training that responds to the needs of state, local, and tribal public health authorities.

Addressing Health Equity Goals for COVID-19 Vaccination Using Integrated Data and Mapping Tools: A Collaboration Between Academia, Public Health, and Health Care Systems in Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio

“…We learned several lessons in the process of developing and operationalizing the Equity Mapping Tool for COVID-19 vaccinations that may help extend the Equity Mapping Tool to other public health crises. First, while the incident command structure offers a way to coordinate and respond to crises, and academic-practice partnerships through the Centers for Public Health Preparedness17 can quickly leverage and deploy academic expertise and resources during a crisis, a gap remains in the knowledge and skills needed to compile and share data across the various health sectors. A solution to this challenge may be to embed one or more academic experts within an incident command structure team who have a background in data integration, public health informatics, and translational public health data analytics.…”

Evaluation of a federally funded workforce development program: The Centers for Public Health Preparedness

“…CDC expected Centers to work closely with State and local health agencies to plan, implement, and evaluate activities designed to deliver competency-based training and education, meet identified specific needs of state and local public health agencies across jurisdictions, and build workforce preparedness and response capabilities (Richmond, Hostler, Leeman, & King, 2010).…”

“…Centers were expected to participate in convened, annual CPHP grantee meetings, download materials into a web-based CPHP Resource Center to better maximize outreach of all CPHPdeveloped preparedness education materials, and participate in collaboration groups designed to share resources, materials, and expertise across the network (Richmond et al, 2010). …”

Opportunity Knocks but Twice for Public Health Preparedness Centers

“…The funding level and number of academic institutions participating in the program blossomed from $1.7 million and four centers in 2000 to $23.8 million and 21 centers in 2003. 2,3 In full bloom by mid-decade, 27 CPHPs shared more than $27 million. A remarkable network of academic institutions and practice partner agencies assembled to deploy a spectrum of activities and services focusing on workforce preparedness, graduate public health education, innovative collaborations between academia and public health practice, and the advancement of new technologies.…”

“…These effects are vividly documented in the article by Richmond and her colleagues at CDC. 3 Ultimately CDC and the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) viewed a strengthened science base as sorely needed and not likely to emerge from the practice-oriented collaborations CPHPs maintained with public health agencies. The CDC-supported PERRCs, established in 2008, reflect a response to this need for establishing the evidence base for preparedness.…”