States’ Public Health Emergency Preparedness Impacted By Budget Cuts

Homeland Security Today: As US counterterrorism authorities express growing concern over a biological terrorist attack and public health officials worry about emerging infectious diseases like the Ebola and Zika viruses, cuts to federal Public Health Emergency Preparedness Cooperative Agreement Funding - which provides support for states and localities to prepare for and respond to all types of disasters – has dropped from a high of $940 million in Fiscal Year 2002 to $651 million in FY 2016. Meanwhile, the Hospital Preparedness Program has been cut 50 percent from a high of $515 million in FY 2004 to $255 million in FY 2016.

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