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Enhancing the Legitimacy of Local Government Pandemic Influenza Planning through Transparency and Public Engagement
Author(s) -
French P. Edward
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
public administration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.721
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1540-6210
pISSN - 0033-3352
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2011.02336.x
Subject(s) - transparency (behavior) , legitimacy , pandemic , public relations , business , government (linguistics) , local government , public administration , public participation , inclusion (mineral) , public engagement , public health , political science , order (exchange) , covid-19 , politics , medicine , infectious disease (medical specialty) , sociology , nursing , law , gender studies , linguistics , philosophy , disease , pathology , finance
Ethical issues in an influenza pandemic often require local government officials to make unprecedented, complex decisions. Effective planning with significant input from key community stakeholders is required well ahead of time in order to anticipate and mitigate a serious health crisis. The author evaluates the pandemic plans of 28 large cities across the United States using criteria derived from guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The analysis reveals that planning legitimacy can be enhanced by wider transparency and civic engagement, greater opportunities for the inclusion of all stakeholders in decision making, mock community‐wide exercises and drills, as well as more public access to comprehensive emergency planning information.