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Title:

Public Health Resilience Checklist for High-Consequence Infectious Diseases—Informed by the Domestic Ebola Response in the United States

Authors:

Sell, Tara Kirk, PhD; Shearer, Matthew P., MPH; Meyer, Diane, MPH; Chandler, Hannah, BS; Schoch-Spana, Monica, PhD; Thomas, Erin, PhD; Rose, Dale A., PhD; Carbone, Eric G., PhD; Toner, Eric, MD

Date posted:

October 04, 2018

Publication type:

Article

Publication:

J Public Health Manag Pract 2018;24(6):510-518

Publisher:

Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

DOI:

10.1097/PHH.0000000000000787

Availability:

Full article available on publisher's site

See also:

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Introduction:

Context: The experiences of communities that responded to confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease in the United States provide a rare opportunity for collective learning to improve resilience to future high-consequence infectious disease events.

Design: Key informant interviews (n = 73) were conducted between February and November 2016 with individuals who participated in Ebola virus disease planning or response in Atlanta, Georgia; Dallas, Texas; New York, New York; or Omaha, Nebraska; or had direct knowledge of response activities. Participants represented health care; local, state, and federal public health; law; local and state emergency management; academia; local and national media; individuals affected by the response; and local and state governments. Two focus groups were then conducted in New York and Dallas, and study results were vetted with an expert advisory group.

Results: Participants focused on a number of important areas to improve public health resilience to high-consequence infectious disease events, including governance and leadership, communication and public trust, quarantine and the law, monitoring programs, environmental decontamination, and waste management.

Conclusions: Findings provided the basis for an evidence-informed checklist outlining specific actions for public health authorities to take to strengthen public health resilience to future high-consequence infectious disease events.