Bio Terror Preparedness

Based on your reading of the report "Ready or Not? Protecting the Public's Health in the Age of Bioterrorism," do you believe the U.S. is better prepared today for bioterror attacks or other public health emergencies than we were before 9/11/01? Why or why not, and in what ways?

I believe that the U.S. is marginally better equipped today for bioterror attacks or other public health emergencies vs. preparedness prior to 9/11, but woefully under prepared overall.

The public health care system is made up of loosely affiliated federal, state and local health agencies. The public health care system was neglected during the 1980's and 1990's and the infrastructure reflects a great deal of deferred maintenance.

The federal government appropriated $2 billion dollars to improve the systems preparedness for a bioterror attack. However, the impact of these dollars has been muted by the fact that state budgets have been dramatically cut over the last few years, which has directly impacted the local public health care budgets.

The public health system was given the directive by the CDC to direct a common set of "critical" capacities, which include:

Preparedness Planning
Surveillance and Epidemiological Capacity
Laboratory Capacity
Information Technology
Communications and Training
(Trust for America's Health, 2003, p. 2)

There have been some positive steps made towards achieving some of the aforementioned objectives since 9/11. Preparedness planning, in one form or another, has been achieved by all 50 states (Trust for America's Health, 2003, p. 21). The emergency communications network actively covers 89% of the U.S. population (Trust for America's Health, 2003, p. 19). Laboratory capacity has been added, but it has a long way to go before it is adequate.

The steps mentioned above represent limited progress towards developing a comprehensive public health system capable of handling a major bio terror or similar WMD attack. The public health care system is significantly under prepared for a serious bio terror attack for many reasons, including:

Red tape in allocating funding.
Differing priorities among members of the health care community.
State budget crisis.
Health care staffing and training.
Laboratory capacity.
Limited budgets to defend against a multitude of epidemics.
Public health care communications capabilities are underdeveloped.
(Trust for America's Health, 2003)

The current public health care system is ill-equipped to handle a major bio terror or other health care crises.

Budgets are tight.
Politics are rampant.
Facilities are outdated.
Stockpiles are insufficient.
Red tape is prevalent.
Training is limited.
Staffing is inadequate.

Overall the system is headed for a melt down if a major epidemic hits the nation or even a region of the country. In an environment, where there is a limited amount of human, capital and natural resources it is impossible to be prepared for every type of emergency.

In my experience, when a crisis hits, it is the sheer will and ingenuity of the people involved that ultimately enables the community to overcome the adversities its faces. While the public health care system is clearly unprepared for a bio terror attack; I believe that if an attack did occur we would somehow develop the means for responding to the attack in short order. This is not to say that millions of people would not die, but ultimately we would allocate the resources to recovering from the attack and devise a better means for avoiding one in the future.

Sara Max. 2003. "Are you prepared for the Worst? Heightened terror alerts underscore the importance of devising a disaster plan for your family." Retrieved October 12, 2004, from CNNfn Web site:
http://www.cnnfn.com/2003/02/12/pf/yourhome/disasterplan/

Trust for America's Health. (2003). "Ready or Not? Protecting the Public's Health in the Age of Bioterrorism." Retrieved October 12, 2004, from Trust for America's Health Web site:
http://healthyamericans.org/state/bioterror/