Preparing For The Unknown, Responding To The Known: Communities And Public Health Preparedness

Abstract

More than four years after September 11, 2001, bioterrorism preparedness remains a high priority for federal, state, and local governments. With reasonably flexible federal funding, communities have strengthened their ability to respond to public health emergencies, according to assessments by stakeholders and market observers. Collaborative relationships developed for bioterrorism preparedness have proved useful in addressing other threats, such as natural disasters and infectious disease outbreaks. Major ongoing challenges include funding constraints, inadequate surge capacity, public health workforce shortages, competing priorities, and jurisdictional issues.

Regionalization of Local Public Health Systems in the Era of Preparedness

“…Furthermore, regionalization could likely benefit planning for surge capacity, a health care system's ability to expand quickly to meet an increased demand for medical care in large-scale public health emergencies. Katz et al see a need for regionalization involving cities, given that ∼25% of the U.S. population lives in metropolitan areas that straddle state lines (11). Additionally, regionalization could help reduce the jurisdictional confusion-potential conflicts and gaps between the responsibilities of federal, state, and local officials-that can impede a timely response to tragedies, as was seen in Hurricane Katrina (33).…”

Geospatial analysis and decision support for health services planning in Uganda

“…The path usually followed in decision-making is the procedural rationality in which the course of action involves searching for a satisfying rather than an optimal alternative (Katz et al, 2006;Yates et al, 2006;Health Services Research, 2007). Information search and its evaluation are very critical and, when spatial data is considered, as depicted in Figure 1, available techniques for evaluation provide a wide range of possibilities for manipulation to ensure better decisions based on existing information (ILRI and CBS, 2002).…”

“…Although a country's population requires proximity of health infrastructure and health care, some areas are served by distant facilities because of resource constraints. Prioritization of health service location therefore considers several factors, need and gaps being important among them (Katz et al, 2006). According to the national health policy (MoH, 2002), health infrastructures, supporting populations in rural as well as in urban areas, are to be established in various administrative units within 2 km reach.…”

The Dwindling Supply Of Empty Beds: Implications For Hospital Surge Capacity

“…12 Similar concern was raised in a recent report that twenty-five states would run out of hospital beds within two weeks of a flu pandemic. 13 These states overlap considerably with those identified in this paper as having limited surge capacity.…”