Health Coalition Releases Recommendations for Improved Disaster Response

July 18, 2007 -- A coalition of 18 health organizations, led by the American Medical Association (AMA) and American Public Health Association (APHA), today released a consensus report with 53 strategic recommendations for legislators, government officials and organizational leaders to more effectively prepare for and respond to catastrophic emergencies. The recommendations, especially nine identified as "critical," serve as a national call to action from medicine, dentistry, nursing, hospitals, emergency medical services (EMS), and public health. The recommendations seek to strengthen health system preparedness and response through increased funding, greater integration, continued education and training and ensured legal protections for responders.

The AMA and APHA convened the AMA/APHA Linkages Leadership Summit, which met in 2005 in Chicago and 2006 in New Orleans to develop consensus recommendations that would be used to promote a coordinated national agenda for strengthening health system preparedness for terrorism and other disasters. Nine critical recommendations from the consensus report make up a call to action in four categories:

• Public health systems must be appropriately funded to adequately respond to day-to-day emergencies and catastrophic mass casualty events;
• Public health and disaster response systems must be fully integrated and interoperable at all government levels;
• Health care and public health professionals should maintain an appropriate level of education and training; and
• Health care and public health responders must be provided and assured adequate legal protections in a disaster.

For more information or to obtain a copy of the full report, please visit: http://www.ama-assn.org/go/disasterpreparedness.