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News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 17, 2004

Contact: CDC Press Office
(404) 639-3286

HHS Awards $849 Million to Improve Public Health Preparedness

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced an additional $849 million in awards to states, territories, and four major metropolitan areas to strengthen the ability of government and public health agencies to respond to bioterror attacks, infectious diseases and natural disasters.

“This funding is a critical component to our national security,” Secretary Thompson said. “Our state and local public health system is the first line of defense when it comes to detection, reporting and containing a terrorist attack, an infectious disease outbreak or any other public health emergency.”

This funding is in addition to $498 million released earlier this month by HHS’ Health Resources Services Agency to strengthen hospitals and improve overall response capability. All totaled since Sept. 11, 2001, HHS has invested more than $3.7 billion in strengthening the nation’s public health infrastructure.

“We’re better prepared to respond to public health emergencies than ever before,” said Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We have more work to do, but these funds will go a long way to further ensure states and local governments are prepared to respond to public health emergencies.”

HHS’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will distribute the federal funds to enhance the capabilities of public health departments in the states, territories and metro areas (New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles County and Washington, D.C.). The money will be used to improve the readiness of the public health sector and other major health care providers to respond to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies.

Recipients will be able to use the funds in a number of ways to improve public health and emergency response. These include improving communication and coordination between hospitals and local and state health departments, and their laboratories, while bolstering epidemiology and disease surveillance in state and local areas by increasing the number of people trained in emergency response.

FY 2004 awards from the Public Health Preparedness and Response Cooperative Agreement are listed below:

State	Total Allocation
Alabama	$12,910,651
Alaska	5,205,459
American Samoa	444,499
Arizona	16,470,314
Arkansas	9,339,265
California	59,319,441
Chicago	12,563,491
Colorado	13,654,314
Connecticut	10,828,647
Delaware	5,518,506
District of Columbia	11,985,069
Florida	37,583,527
Georgia	21,575,121
Guam	515,976
Hawaii	6,384,925
Idaho	6,588,258
Illinois	23,718,971
Indiana	16,262,765
Iowa	9,816,873
Kansas	9,354,215
Kentucky	12,105,282
Los Angeles	27,069,695
Louisiana	12,913,581
Maine	6,600,682
Marshall Islands	434,158
Maryland	14,756,853
Massachusetts	17,640,158
Michigan	26,896,854
Micronesia	497,837
Minnesota	14,701,780
Mississippi	9,671,470
Missouri	15,952,563
Montana	5,775,627
N. Marianas Islands	450,446
Nebraska	7,377,335
Nevada	8,927,588
New Hampshire	6,465,014
New Jersey	21,047,364
New Mexico	8,803,295
New York City	25,874,757
New York	28,493,781
North Carolina	20,433,395
North Dakota	5,223,458
Ohio	27,626,951
Oklahoma	10,899,049
Oregon	10,906,827
Palau	406,583
Pennsylvania	30,735,407
Puerto Rico	11,641,389
Rhode Island	6,048,030
South Carolina	12,091,813
South Dakota	5,441,461
Tennessee	15,488,192
Texas	51,803,533
Utah	8,501,910
Vermont	5,198,685
Virgin Islands	488,051
Virginia	19,924,893
Washington	16,978,969
West Virginia	7,540,254
Wisconsin	14,811,846
Wyoming	4,908,897
Grand Total	$849,596,000

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

Last Revised: June 17, 2004