Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities: National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health
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In 2011, CDC established 15 capabilities that serve as national standards for public health preparedness planning. Since then, these capability standards have served as a vital framework for state, local, tribal, and territorial preparedness programs as they plan, operationalize, and evaluate their ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from public health emergencies.
In 2017, DSLR began updating the capabilities in response to lessons learned from public health emergency responses, updates to public health preparedness science, revised guidance and resources, findings from internal reviews and assessments, subject matter expert feedback from the practice community, and input from allied federal agencies and professional associations. The capabilities update focused on streamlining language and aligning content with new national standards, updated science, and current public health priorities and strategies. The capabilities also support topics such as pandemic influenza, environmental health, at-risk populations, and tribal populations.
The 2018 Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities: National Standards for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Public Health recognizes the maturity and experience jurisdictional public health emergency preparedness and response programs have gained since 2011. The document describes the components necessary to advance jurisdictional public health preparedness and response capacity.
Download Materials
- Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities: National Standards for State, Local, Tribal and Territorial Public Health (Full Document) – October 2018
- Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities Summary of Changes – October 2018
- Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities Suggested Resources – October 2018
- Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities Infographics – October 2018
- Capabilities Update Orientation Webinar Slides – November 2018
Understanding the Capabilities Structure and Composition
Each capability standard comprises capability functions, and each capability function contains specific capability tasks that are supported by multiple capability resource elements.
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- Capability Title and Definition – Description of the capability as it applies to state, local, tribal, and territorial public health agencies. Each definition includes a list of potential partners and stakeholders with which jurisdictions may consider working to achieve the capability
- Capability Functions – Critical segments of the capability that must occur to achieve the capability definition
- Capability Tasks – Action steps aligned to one or more capability functions. Capability tasks must be accomplished to complete a capability function
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Capability Resource Elements – Resources a jurisdiction should have or have access to successfully perform capability tasks associated with capability functions. Resource elements are listed sequentially to align with corresponding tasks in each function. While not necessarily listed first, “priority” resource elements are potentially the most critical for completing capability tasks based on jurisdictional risk assessments and other forms of community input. The three categories of capability resource elements are
- Preparedness (P) – Components to consider within existing operational plans, standard operating procedures, guidelines, documents, or other types of written agreements, such as contracts or memoranda of understanding (MOUs)
- Skills and Training (S/T) – General baseline descriptions, competencies, and skills that personnel and teams should possess to achieve a capability
- Equipment and Technology (E/T) – Infrastructure a jurisdiction should have or have access to with sufficient quantities or levels of effectiveness to achieve the intent of any related capability task
Explore the 2018 Preparedness and Response Capabilities
Table of Contents
Using the Capability Standards for Strategic Planning
At-A-Glance: Capability Definitions, Functions, and Summary of Changes
Capabilities (in alphabetical order)
Capability 1: Community Preparedness
Capability 2: Community Recovery
Capability 3: Emergency Operations Coordination
Capability 4: Emergency Public Information and Warning
Capability 5: Fatality Management
Capability 6: Information Sharing
Capability 8: Medical Countermeasure Dispensing and Administration
Capability 9: Medical Materiel Management and Distribution
Capability 11: Nonpharmaceutical Interventions
Capability 12: Public Health Laboratory Testing
Capability 13: Public Health Surveillance and Epidemiological Investigation
Additional Resources
Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities: 2018 Update Infographic
Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capabilities: Functions Infographic
Public Health Preparedness Capabilities: National Standards for State and Local Planning (July 2011)
2011 Public Health Preparedness Capabilities Challenges and Opportunities Infographic
For questions, contact preparedness@cdc.gov
- Page last reviewed: November 28, 2018, 02:25 PM
- Page last updated: November 28, 2018, 02:25 PM
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