Recommendations

Today there exists a pressing need for preparation on the part of state and local governments and health officials. The non-profit organization Trust for America’s Health released a report stating that as of December 2003 only two states had sufficient workers to distribute Strategic National Stockpile supplies. 33 While some progress has been made since then, there are still remaining states with shortfalls. Without comprehensive plans for the receipt and distribution of a push package, or a properly educated staff that can manage the supplies, the SNS will not reach the public in a timely manner.

A summary of state SNS exercises to date can be acquired through the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). The document, Exercising the Strategic National Stockpile: Lessons Learned and Tools for Application, features the experiences of eight states that have exercised their SNS plans, discusses common obstacles, and capably highlights the lessons learned from this first round of training. 34 In collaboration with ASTHO and the Strategic National Stockpile Program, the National Association for County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) has begun work on an interactive CD-ROM resource for local health departments that will provide information on SNS planning and preparations. NACCHO also has published The National Pharmaceutical Stockpile: A Reference for Local Planners, a helpful companion document to the CDC’s Guide for Planners. 35 It is recommended that local authorities meet this obligation head on so as to prevent the failure of the SNS program in the last step of planning.

The SNS is a critical component of the Nation’s response to any future medical emergency, and it will be the subject of revision and refinement as our responses to such incidents advance. The key role of the SNS will endure, however, and the fact that it can be deployed at anytime and to anywhere in the continental United States is a tribute to those who conceived and built the stockpile to safeguard the country and its citizens.

33. Ready or Not?: Protecting the Public’s Health in the Age of Bioterrorism, (Washington, DC: TFAH, December 2003)—Available at http://healthyamericans.org/state/bioterror/Bioterror.pdf. Accessed March 2004.
34. Exercising the Strategic National Stockpile: Lessons Learned and Tools for Application (Washington, DC: ASTHO, January 2004)—Available at http://www.astho.org/pubs/Exercisingthestockpile.pdf. Accessed March 2004.
35. “ The National Pharmaceutical Stockpile (NPS): A Reference for Local Planners” (Washington, DC: NACCHO)—Available at http://www.naccho.org/files/documents/NACCHO-NPS-Guide.pdf. Accessed January 2004.