• Complete the budget worksheet provided indicating the funding opportunities and costs related to the chosen project. 

The public health issue for this week’s research concerns infectious disease and outbreaks such as Ebola, measles, Zika, and Swine Flu. Infectious disease is described as an illness which is manifested from a bacterial or toxin that results in a septicity of the body’s organs and tissues. This can relate to incapacitation or death if not treated immediately.  The disease can be transmitted by a variety of ways such as, orally, airborne, or touching an infected surface or individual. According to Espinal, Aldighieri, St. John, Becerra-Posada and Etienne, the World Health Organization declares infectious diseases such as the Ebola virus as a public health event of international concern which call on countries to take steps to prevent, detect, and cure the disease if possible (Espinal, Aldighieri, St. John, Becerra-Posada, & Etienne, 2016).

The funding issue related to this problem is that many states are not equipped or funded to handle outbreaks without receiving some source of Federal funding and help from the government.  This creates a problem when an outbreak occurs because the federal government has to allocate resources, time and management to the state or city in order to resolve the crisis. According to Jane Esworthy in 2014 several state legislations met to discuss the states inability to respond to infectious outbreaks during a crisis because most states rely heavily on federal funding for this type of work (Esworthy, 2015). The meeting was established as a top priority because of the reemergence of old viruses with new strains such as the measles. The goal is to establish a long term strategic plan that could assist the organization with collaborating and developing a plan to assist with funding and obtaining resources to combat current and future disease because all stakeholders internally and externally and society as a whole is effected by outbreaks.  According to Bryson, an organization must be able to think, act and learn in order to have an effective and successful strategic planning process that will assist the organization in achieving its mission (Bryson, 2011).  

Because the states are experiencing cut backs and budget constraints associated with a sluggish economy and limited funding from the Federal government. It is imperative that states began to establish perimeters that can assist healthcare organizations and public health establishments before a major crisis is evident. There a variety of ways that an organization can solicit or request potential funding and resources in order to combat infectious disease but the two most common ways is to cut or reduce cost in categories such as salaries, training, contract labor, marketing, supplies, travel, and benefits. This approach is the most undesirable and is used when most states and public health organizations have no other resources available to utilize. The second approach which is a more desirable approach used by states and public health organizations is to request grants and funding through organizations such as the United States Department of Health and Human Service, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Office of Financial Resources. For example the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Office of Financial Resources is committed to ensuring that funds and aid is allocated to those agencies or organizations in need of resources, money and grants. CDC and OFR do this in order to prevent and combat disease around the world.  According to Christa Capozzola during the year of 2015 CDC processed more than twenty thousand contracts and grants which provided more than eleven billion in funding to public health organizations around the world (Capozzola, 2015). These agencies were selected because each agency has the same objectives and goals in mind when it comes to preventing and curing infectious disease throughout the world. In the strategic planning process the thought  of cutting/reducing salaries, training, contracts, labor, marketing, supplies, travel, and benefits can create more problems from an external and internal perspective and can affect the overall moral, retention rate and recruitment of new stakeholders interested in funding the organization and this influences an individual’s decision to  select the second approach over the first approach if this is an option