What Core Functions Of Public Health

A local community health center 

identifies childhood obesity as a problem in the community they collect data demonstrating that the problem begins as early as elementary school they develop a plan that includes clinical interventions at the health center and also at the elementary school they ask the health department to help them organize an educational campaign and assist in evaluating the results working together the health center and the health department are able to reduce the obesity rate among elementary school children by 50% this seems like a new way to practice public health you conclude what type of approach is this a young man in your dormitory is diagnosed with tuberculosis also known as TB the Health Department works with the Student Health Service to test everyone in the dorm as well as in his classes with the TB skin test those who test positive for TB for the first time are advised to take a course of a medicine called INH you ask is this the standard operating procedure you learn that many of the speakers at a public health meaning are not from public health agencies but from the department's of Labor Commerce housing and education you ask what do these departments have to do with health in 1994 the United States Public Health Service put forth the public health in America statement which provided the framework that continues to define the goals and services of governmental public health agencies these goals should already be familiar to you the public health in America statement built upon the Institute of medicines 1988 report titled the future of public health the IOM defined three core Public Health functions that governmental public health agencies need to perform the core functions defined by the IOM are one assessment to policy development and three assurances the concept of core function implies that the job cannot be delegated to other agencies or to non-governmental organizations it also implies that the governmental public health agencies will work together to accomplish these functions because as a group they are responsible for public health as a whole no single agency at the local state or federal level is specifically or exclusively responsible for accomplishing the core Public Health functions this chart represents these three core functions broken down into more detail let's look at each of them assessment has three components monitoring the health of communities diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards in the community and inform educate and empower people about health issues assessment includes obtaining data that defines the health of the overall population and specific groups within the population including defining the nature of new and persistent health problems policy development includes mobilization of community partnerships and actions to identify and solve health problems the development of policies and plans that support individual and community health policy development includes developing evidence-based recommendations and other analysts of options such as health policy analysis to guide implementation including efforts to educate and mobilize community partnerships assurance includes governmental Public Health oversight responsibility for ensuring key components of an effective health system including health care and public health are in place even though the implementation will also often be performed by others in the center you'll notice research policy development includes developing evidence-based recommendations and other animal analysis of options such as health policy analysis to guide implementation including efforts to educate and mobilize community partnerships