Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) released the seventh annual Ready or Not? Protecting the Public's Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism report in December, 2009. The H1N1 flu outbreak has exposed serious underlying gaps in the nation's ability to respond to public health emergencies and that the economic crisis is straining an already fragile public health system.
This report contains a state-by-state health preparedness scores based on 10 key indicators to assess health emergency preparedness capabilities.
Wisconsin scored eight out of 10 possible points along with 19 other states. Wisconsin lost points for having not “increased or maintained level of funding for public health services from FY 2007-08 to FY 2008-09” and for not requiring “all licensed childcare facilities to have a multi-hazard written evacuation and relocation plan for emergencies”.
The report also offers a series of recommendations for improving preparedness. These include: ensure stable and sufficient funding; conduct an H1N1 after-action report and update preparedness plans with lessons learned; increase accountability and transparency; and improve community preparedness.
The full report with its detailed recommendations and a full list of all the indicators and states’ scores are available on TFAH’s web site at www.healthyamericans.org and RWJF’s web site at www.rwjf.org.
