February 20, 2008 -- An inaugural report on public health preparedness released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates states have made significant progress with respect to emergency preparedness, but that significant challenges remain.

The CDC report, Public Health Preparedness: Mobilizing State by State, presents data that illustrate the progress state health departments have made in disease detection and investigation; laboratory testing capabilities; and planning, exercising and responding to public health emergencies. Key improvements from the report include:

• Disease detection and investigation. All state public health departments can now receive urgent reports about disease 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition, all states share information using the Epidemic Information Exchange (Epi-X).
• Public health laboratories. The number of laboratories that can test and analyze samples has nearly doubled since 2001.
• Response plans. All states have developed detailed emergency response plans to address all hazards, including an influenza pandemic. All states also now have plans to distribute the Strategic National Stockpile.
• Training. All public health departments now systematically and routinely train their workers in a wide range of crucial emergency response areas.

CDC's report also provides a better understanding of where the major national and state challenges lie, and the areas where more progress needs to be made. Preparedness challenges include:

• Improving the ability to quickly dispense medicines and vaccines in an affected community
• Increasing the use of electronic health data for preparedness and response by networking surveillance systems
• Improving legal preparedness by helping states and other jurisdictions implement public health mutual aid agreements, which enable sharing of supplies, equipment, personnel, and information during emergencies
• Exercising public health systems to continuously improve capability and demonstrate readiness

The report and state specific information is available on CDC's Web site at http://emergency.cdc.gov/publications/feb08phprep/.