Strategic Goal 2: Manage the federal response to and recovery from public health emergencies and other disasters​

ASPR’s response capabilities include distributing MCMs and other critical public health supplies; providing healthcare organizations with equipment to support patient surge; and supporting the healthcare system’s readiness and response capabilities through funding, technical assistance, and sharing of promising practices.

Objective 2.1 Key Milestones:

1. Mobilize ASPR resources to equitably distribute MCMs, personnel teams, and other public health supplies to protect the nation during active responses.
2. Stay in close communication with SLTT partners to ensure the resources ASPR deploys meet the needs on the ground.
3. Identify if and how the Defense Production Act and similar policy levers can be used to quickly increase domestic production of medical supplies and support systems during times of need.
4. Use lessons-learned from past incidents to inform federal decision-making and improve response operations.
   

Underserved communities^[1]  and at-risk individuals^[2]  are disproportionately affected during public health emergencies and disasters. ASPR can better meet the needs of the whole population by building equity into its response operations.

Objective 2.2 Key Milestones:

1. Engage in ongoing communication with federal partners and communities to identify sources of inequity and potential remedies.
2. Ensure risk communication is effective, consistent, and appropriately tailored for specific audiences to restore trust in science, the healthcare system, and public health workers, as well as to enable public health mitigation efforts.
3. Coordinate government response capabilities to ensure communities receive the comprehensive services and support needed for each incident.
4. Ensure impacted, underserved communities, groups, and at-risk individuals are provided with culturally competent and relevant health care in response and recovery efforts.
   

ASPR uses a multitude of communication mechanisms to coordinate response operations with federal partners, and to understand and meet SLTT and healthcare response needs during disasters.

Objective 2.3 Key Milestones:

1. Execute a cohesive regional approach that is directed by ASPR headquarters and customized to each region by aligning programmatic communication through the Regional Administrator as a conduit between ASPR’s programs, state and local authorities, and healthcare organizations.
2. Enhance coordination with intra-agency and interagency response partners to provide leadership in the mobilization and seamless engagement of federal public health and medical capabilities in response missions.
3. Enhance communication with public and private sector partners to provide real-time situational awareness and forecasting of public health, medical, and supply chain disruptions, and seamless engagement in responding to those needs.
4. Evaluate the efficiency of resource and incident management systems in maintaining the common operating picture during a disaster and develop a plan for enhancing and refining those systems to create a more complete common operating picture.
5. Improve data collection, systems, and web-based access and visualization to enhance public health and stakeholder information sharing and situational awareness.