I’m writing to express my grave concern about the “sequestration” budget cuts to our public health system.

With the fatal Ebola case in Texas and the enterovirus D68 (severe respiratory virus) that is infecting children all over the country (including here in Maine), it is very concerning that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control had $600 million cut from their funding last year due to the across-the-board “sequestration” budget cuts.

The CDC’s job is to prepare the nation and respond to public health threats. We don’t often see how essential this job is, but the two recent outbreaks show us how important public health funding is.

As a result of sequestration cuts, the CDC has $160 million less to fund essential public health care in the United States and $33 million less for state and local preparedness.

We have seen in Texas what happens when the public health system is not fully able to do its job: A patient with Ebola is initially turned away from the same hospital where he later dies, and Texas is slow to implement on-the-ground public health care to identify, appropriately quarantine and treat potential carriers of the disease.

The recent outbreak of Ebola in West Africa also shows why it is in our interest here at home to invest in public health care worldwide. In our modern world, diseases travel and we here in the U.S. benefit if we invest in public health preparedness before diseases reach our shores.

We need to restore funding for a strong public health system in the United States, and the recent outbreaks show us why.

Ellen Popenoe, Ph.D., MPH

Portland

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