The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) today released an updated quadrennial strategy to safeguard the nation’s health in times of crisis.

The 2019-2022 National Health Security Strategy (NHSS) provides a vision to strengthen the nation’s ability to prevent, detect, assess, prepare for, mitigate, respond to, and recover from disasters and emergencies. It includes strategies to improve readiness and adapt operational capabilities to address evolving threats such as the use of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons; cyber warfare; emerging infectious diseases that could lead to a pandemic; and catastrophic natural disasters and human-caused incidents.

The NHSS focuses on three overarching objectives:

• Prepare, mobilize, and coordinate a whole-of-government approach to bring the full spectrum of federal medical and public health capabilities to support state, local, tribal, and territorial authorities in a public health emergency, disaster, or attack;
• Protect the nation from the health effects of emerging and pandemic infectious diseases and CBRN threats; and
• Leverage the capabilities of the private sector.

“This strategy drives federal actions for national health security preparedness and serves as a model for actions nationwide,” said Oscar Alleyne, DrPH, Senior Advisor for Public Health Programs at NACCHO. “NACCHO recently released findings on the landscape of local public health preparedness, and we look forward to using the updated NHSS strategy to inform locally-led policies, guidance, best practices, training, and exercises. Collectively, we can build readiness and response capabilities to meet the anticipated needs of our communities while also preparing for catastrophic risks.”

For more information about the NHSS, the federal Implementation Plan and an Evaluation of Progress of the 2015-2018 NHSS, visit www.phe.gov/nhss.

To learn about how the National Health Security awards highlights the work your health department does in support of the NHSS, click here.