
Princeton, N.J.—An annual assessment of the nation’s day-to-day readiness for managing health emergencies improved significantly over the past five years, though deep regional differences remain. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) released the 2018 National Health Security Preparedness Index (Index), which found the United States scored a 7.1 on a 10-point scale for preparedness—nearly a 3 percent improvement over the last year, and a nearly 11 percent improvement since the Index began five years ago.
Threats to America’s health security are on the rise, but so is our nation’s preparedness to deal with these emergencies,” said Alonzo Plough, PhD, MPH, vice president of research-evaluation-learning and chief science officer at RWJF. “The Index shows how prepared public and private stakeholders are to tackle health security challenges and sheds light on areas for improvement.