ASPR updates national health security strategy

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response today released an updated strategy for ensuring the security of the nation’s health in times of crisis. The four-year National Health Security Strategy and Implementation Plan seeks to strengthen and sustain communities’ abilities to prevent, protect against, mitigate the effects of, respond to, and recover from disasters and emergencies. It sets out five objectives: build and sustain healthy, resilient communities; enhance the national capability to produce and effectively use both medical countermeasures and non-pharmaceutical interventions; ensure comprehensive health situational awareness to support decision-making before incidents and during response and recovery operations; enhance the integration and effectiveness of the public health, health care and emergency management systems; and strengthen global health security. For more information, visit www.phe.gov/nhss.