# 4718
The HHS has recently unveiled a new online portal for Public Health Emergency preparedness.
Below you’ll see a screenshot from today of Publichealthemergency.hhs.gov, followed by the HHS’s description of the site’s mission.
For those (like me) who hate to type long url’s, PHE.gov appears to work just fine.
I’m putting a link in my sidebar under Preparedness Websites to this new site and you can receive their Twitter feed by following @PHEGov
I’m looking forward to exploring this site at length.
About Public Health Emergency.gov
PHE.gov is a web portal created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this site acts as a portal for residents in the U.S. and worldwide to obtain information from all U.S. federal agencies involved in a public health emergency, a medical disaster or the public health aspects of a natural or man-made disaster.
The site is maintained by the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response to meet public information requirements of the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act of 2006, Public Law No. 109-417. Congress passed PAHPA “to improve the Nation’s public health and medical preparedness and response capabilities for emergencies, whether deliberate, accidental, or natural.” The Act established within HHS an Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response; guides HHS preparedness and response activities; provides specific authorities, including the advanced development and acquisitions of medical countermeasures, and called for a quadrennial National Heath Security Strategy.
Using this portal, visitors can find the current status and actions taken by the federal government in preparing for and responding to public health emergencies and medical disasters, links to report potential public health threats, as well as information about medical response, emergency support functions and medical assistance available through the federal government for domestic and international emergencies, as well as learn about U.S. efforts to provide basic and advanced research and development of medical countermeasures and how these countermeasures will be used in response to public health emergencies. Visitors can also obtain information on how to personally prepare for, respond to and recover from a public health emergency.
The portal also provides specific information for federal, state, and local emergency planners to aid in preparing for and responding to public health emergencies. The site links to the necessary legal authorities and guidance, preparedness and planning tools, and specific preparedness programs for emergency planners.
The site also supplies responders with information on physical safety and mental health, and guidance for dealing with specific public health emergencies.
HHS agencies and divisions participating in the Publichealthemergency.gov site include the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Administration for Children and Families, the Administration on Aging, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, and the U.S. Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health and many others. Other Federal Agencies participating in this site include but are not limited to the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Environmental Protection Agency and the Veterans Administration.
