Goals
Build community resilience
An essential part of achieving national health security is an informed, empowered, and resilient
population. Community resilience, as it applies to health, is defined as the sustained ability of
communities to withstand and recover—in both the short and long terms—from adversity, such
as an influenza pandemic or terrorist attack. The health of a community—and, in turn,
community resilience—is determined by a combination of physical, social, and environmental
factors (e.g., biology, lifestyle, air and water quality, economic and social conditions, and equal
access to health care), and the actions required to fully achieve community resilience are beyond
the scope of a single department, policy, or level of government. Indeed, addressing the physical,
social, and environmental determinants of health requires actions and investment from multiple
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sectors including but not limited to the health system.16 Community resilience is supported by
the promotion of healthy lifestyles; disease prevention; access to culturally informed, timely and
high-quality health care; and a robust public health system.
Resilient communities have robust social networks and health systems that support recovery after
adversity. They are prepared to take deliberate, collective action in the face of an incident and
have developed material, physical, social, and psychological resources that function as a buffer
to these incidents and help protect people’s health. After an incident, individuals and
communities are able to mount an appropriate “bystander response” until emergency responders
arrive, i.e., they are sufficiently healthy to sustain themselves and attend to their own health
needs (including the need for psychological support) until help arrives and can assist in
addressing the needs of at-risk individuals.