A writer for Scientific American recently pointed out that funding for the Center for Disease Control’s funding for public health preparedness has taken serious hits over the course of the past decade.
According to funding data analyzed by Judy Stone, annual funding for preparedness efforts have fallen by $1 billion between 2002 and 2013.
Stone, an infectious disease specialist, said that this reduction in funding hampered the U.S. in its response to the first Ebola patient in Dallas.
She lamented that politicians who are poorly informed about infectious disease prevention are in charge of resources for such efforts. She said that funding cuts have led to job losses at the local level, impacting local health officials ability to prepare for an outbreak.
“At this rate, what is happening in Dallas is going to be about as effective as the shameful response to Hurricane Katrina was,” she wrote.
Read Judy Stone’s full analysis here.
