The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services yesterday awarded more than $840 million in funds to continue improving the emergency preparedness efforts of state and local public health and healthcare systems.

New Jersey received almost $5.9 million from the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) and $15.6 from the Public Health Emergency Preparedness programs (PHEP).

The programs provide resources needed to ensure that local communities can respond effectively to infectious disease outbreaks, natural disasters, or chemical, biological, or radiological nuclear events.

HPP funding supports building sustainable community healthcare coalitions that collaborate on emergency planning and, during disasters share resources and partner to meet the health and medical needs of their community. PHEP funding is used to advance public health preparedness and response capabilities at the state and local level.

The aligned HPP and PHEP cooperative agreements encourage state and local public health departments to work collaboratively with federal health and preparedness programs in their jurisdictions to maximize resources and prevent duplicative efforts.