The Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) cooperative agreement is a critical source of funding for state, local, and territorial public health departments. Since 2002, the PHEP cooperative agreement has provided assistance to public health departments across the nation. This helps health departments build and strengthen their abilities to effectively respond to a range of public health threats, including infectious diseases, natural disasters, and biological, chemical, nuclear, and radiological events. Preparedness activities funded by the PHEP cooperative agreement specifically targeted the development of emergency-ready public health departments that are flexible and adaptable.

In response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, CDC also helped communities through the Public Health Emergency Response grant to increase state and local preparedness and response capacity during the pandemic. The recipients included the 62 PHEP awardees.

Guidance and Technical Assistance

CDC provides annual guidance and technical assistance to assist health departments with their strategic planning to strengthen their public health preparedness capabilities. Technical assistance includes CDC public health expertise, standards for developing priority preparedness capabilities, and expertise for conducting exercises and meeting performance goals. CDC developed the Online Technical Resource and Assistance Center (On-TRAC) to provide state and local public health departments a secure, user-friendly platform for requesting technical assistance. Learn more about On-TRAC.

‍