Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #121295

Martha S. Wingate, DrPH, Andrew C. Rucks, PhD, Lisa McCormick, MPH, and Peter M. Ginter, PhD. South Central Center for Public Health Preparedness, University of Alabama at Birmingham, RPHB 330, 1530 3rd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35294, (205)934-6783, mslay@uab.edu

After the events September 11, 2001 and the immediate call for reinforcement of the public health infrastructure, there has been much discussion regarding the reallocation of public health resources to disaster preparedness efforts, specifically bioterrorism preparedness. Some argue that preparedness detracts from public health practice, especially for specific direct- and population-based services. Preparedness proponents argue that the disaster preparedness funds are critical for the growth and development of the public health infrastructure, the cornerstone of public health practice. The purpose of this paper is to describe the relationship between preparedness and core public health functions by presenting the core functions and ten essential services in the context of five phases of all-hazards preparedness. Preparedness for all-hazards in public health involves five phases: prevention, deterrence, and planning; pre-event; event; post-event; and recovery. For each one of the phases, it is possible to relate specific activities that are undertaken by public health agencies to the core public health functions (assessment, assurance, and policy development). In addition, the ten essential public health services can be applied to each of the five phases and provide specific tasks to assist in developing sound preparedness activities. Moreover, linking the public health functions and essential services can provide public health agencies and practitioners with useful ideas that could provoke creativity to utilize the preparedness funding to build public health practice infrastructure as well. This presentation will provide examples of such relationships.

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