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Board
of Health Policy Goals and Priority Work Projects
Goal 1: Strengthen the public health system
Access Committee:
David Crump
Lead Staff:
Craig
McLaughlin
NOTE: The
Board's Access Committee currently supports two Board goals: (1)
strengthen the public health system and (2)
assure access to critical health services.
The State Board of
Health has long been concerned about the capacity of the public health
system. Funding for the system's core activities has eroded even as it
has had to respond to a host of new challenges, including rapidly rising rates
of obesity, the possible threat of bioterrorism, and several new, re-emerging,
and
increasingly drug-resistant diseases. Many of these concerns were
documented in Response
Capacity During A Health EmergencyA Review of Selected Issues,
a report the Board produced in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
The Board's
2007 Strategic Plan
identifies two objectives under the goal of strengthening the public
health system:
1. Improve
public health's capacity to control disease and respond to public health
emergencies
The Board
typically reserves some of its staff capacity so it can develop timely
policy responses to emerging or re-emerging health threats. It
continuously evaluates the adequacy of public health authorities for
activities such as isolation and quarantine, and it monitors
developments in the field of surveillance so it can modify its rules as
needed. Is also works to promote immunizations. For more information on
immunization-related activities, visit the
access to health services page.
2. Strengthen
the organizational capacity of the state's network of public health
agencies
The Board is one of the consulting agencies named in the legislation
that established the
Joint Select
Committee on Public Health Financing, and has worked with state and
local public health throughout 2005 and 2006 to prepare information for
the committee. The Board is also an active member of the
Public Health Improvement
Partnership and participates in a variety of activities related to
public health emergency preparedness and response.
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