Overview
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The Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (PHPR) is committed to strengthening the nation’s health security by saving lives and protecting against public health threats, whether at home or abroad, natural or man-made.
Health security depends on the ability of our nation to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from public health threats. To ensure that, PHPR supports our state, local, tribal, and territorial partners by providing funding, building capacity, offering technical assistance, and championing their critical role in protecting the public’s health. Download CDC's PHPR Overview Brochure.
Funding
Established in 2002, PHPR receives approximately $1.4 billion in annual funding from Congress to build and strengthen national preparedness for public health emergencies including natural, biological, chemical, radiological, and nuclear incidents. This funding supports a range of activities at CDC and state and local public health departments. Congress appropriates over three-quarters of this funding for two CDC programs, the Public Health Emergency Preparedness cooperative agreement and the Strategic National Stockpile.
Our work
The structure of PHPR is comprised of four major divisions and the Office of the Director.
The Division of Emergency Operations (DEO)
- Responsible for overall coordination of CDC's preparedness, assessment, response, recovery, and evaluation prior to and during public health emergencies.
- Responsible for the CDC Emergency Operations Center, CDC's command center for monitoring and coordinating CDC's emergency response to public health threats in the United States and abroad. Staffed around the clock, the EOC provides worldwide situational awareness and coordinates CDC's preparedness, assessment, response, recovery, and evaluation for public health emergencies.
Download the latest DEO fact sheet
The Division of State and Local Readiness (DSLR)
- Manages the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Cooperative Agreement, which supports preparedness nationwide in state, local, tribal, and territorial public health departments.
- As of 2002, PHEP has provided nearly $9 billion to public health departments to upgrade their ability to effectively respond to the public health consequences of all hazards, including infectious diseases, natural disasters, and biological, chemical, nuclear, and radiological events. The cooperative agreement currently funds 62 awardees including all 50 states, eight U.S. territories and freely associated states, and four localities.
Download the latest DSLR fact sheet
The Division of Strategic National Stockpile (DSNS)
- Delivers critical medical assets to the site of a national emergency.
- Manages and maintains the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), the national repository of critical medicines and medical supplies established to protect the American public if there is a public health emergency severe enough to cause state and local supplies to run out. DSNS procures, stores, and delivers these resources across the U.S.
- Provides technical assistance to state and local sites to prepare for emergencies and when SNS resources are deployed.
Download the latest DSNS fact sheet
The Division of Select Agents and Toxins (DSAT)
- Oversees the Federal Select Agent Program, which regulates all entities that possess, use, and/or transfer biological agents or toxins that could pose a severe threat to public health and safety. Select agents include the bacteria that cause anthrax and plague and the virus that causes smallpox.
- Ensures compliance with select agent regulations by providing guidance to registered entities and conducting evaluations and inspections.
Download the latest DSAT fact sheet
- Page last reviewed: February 18, 2016
- Page last updated: February 18, 2016
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