Citation[]
Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act of 2006 (PAHPA), Pub. L. No. 109-417, §202(2), 120 Stat. 2831, 2845 (2006) (codified at 42 U.S.C. §247d-4).
Overview[]
The Act mandates actions by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for improvements in public health emergency preparedness and response. Within the Act, Congress recognized the need for efficient sharing of real-time information to help prevent potentially devastating consequences that could result from public health emergencies. To address this need, PAHPA required the Secretary of HHS, in collaboration with state, local, and tribal public health officials, to develop an overall strategic plan for and undertake the establishment of a near real-time electronic nationwide public health situational awareness capability through an interoperable network of systems. The systems are to collect, store, and analyze public health data and share the information needed to enhance early detection of and rapid response to potential catastrophic infectious disease outbreaks and other public health emergencies originating domestically or abroad.