Last week, Trust for America's Health, issued a press release to emphasize the importance of investing in public health infrastructure, emergency preparedness, and health equity.
"Increased and sustained investment in public health infrastructure, emergency preparedness, and health equity will save lives...Federal, state, and local officials as well as leaders in the healthcare and business sectors should use our findings to identify and address gaps in public health preparedness. Neglecting to do so will mean that the country will not be as prepared as it needs to be for the next public health emergency," said President and CEO of Trust for America's Health J. Nadine Gracia
The Trust for America’s Health organization congratulated J. Nadine Gracia on joining the leadership ranks of Women of Impact in a recent Twitter Post. Gracia encourages officials and leaders to use the findings of her organization to identify and address weaknesses in our public health systems, and warns that failing to invest adequately in these areas will leave the country ill-prepared for future public health emergencies, potentially resulting in unnecessary loss of life.
According to the press release issued on May 24, 2023, the new report titled "Ready or Not 2023: Protecting the Public's Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism," released by Trust for America's Health, provides a comprehensive assessment of state-level preparedness to respond to public health emergencies in the United States. This comes amid increasing health emergencies due to infectious disease outbreaks and extreme weather events.
According to the press release, the report highlights an escalating trend in health crises in the United States, marked by more than a million COVID-19 fatalities in 2022 and a growing spread of inaccurate health-related information. Additionally, for the eighth year in a row, the nation has weathered at least ten separate weather-related disasters each causing damages exceeding a billion dollars.
According to the press release, the report underscores certain strong points within the public health infrastructure, such as the readiness to augment healthcare and public health lab resources, the possession of state accreditations relating to public health or emergency administration, and the fact that the majority of people in the U.S. can avail themselves of clean water via community water systems.
According to the press release, the report additionally points out several issues requiring further focus, such as inadequate levels of seasonal flu vaccinations, a comprehensive public health system that serves just half of the U.S. populace, and the fact that in 2022, on average, a mere 26 percent of hospitals achieved a top-tier grade for patient safety.
According to the press release, the report suggests several policy strategies, such as revamping the public health framework with a yearly funding commitment of $4.5 billion, reinforcing public health organizations, tackling the spread of false health information, guaranteeing access to all suggested immunizations, establishing illness or caregiving leave with job protection, channeling funds into strategies that address factors affecting health outcomes, fully supporting the medical countermeasures initiative, and enhancing preparedness for climate change and threats to environmental health.
The findings of this report serve as a call to action for federal, state, and local officials, as well as leaders in the healthcare and business sectors, to prioritize investments in public health infrastructure, emergency preparedness, and health equity. Failure to do so may put the nation at a significant disadvantage in handling future public health emergencies and could result in avoidable loss of life.
