Background
The Institute of Medicine Committee on Public Health Strategies to Improve Health issued a report that distinguished the impacts public health in the United States. The committee determined that in order to improve health outcomes in the United States we will have to alter the way this nation invests in public health. Basically, put more resources toward population-based prevention efforts; population-based prevention requires stable funding for public health departments. Local health departments have many responsibilities to ensure the public is protected from preventable diseases, environmental hazards, and other threats. Sufficient and sustainable funding is vital to ensure local health departments have and maintain the ability to carry out the activities necessary to produce healthiness and wellness in their communities. Evidence from the NACCHO’s Economic Surveillance Surveys show that expenditures per capita among local health departments are related to both quantity and quality of public health activities …show more content…
Cuts in local health departments’ budgets has outlasted the official end of the Great Recession. As a result, some local health department financed programs are at risk. Regardless of the high demand for educating and improving the well-being of mothers, infants, and children, local health departments’ capacity to deliver these services is slowing fading away. NACCHO’s Economic Surveillance Surveys found that 15% to 25% of local health departments cut their maternal and child health programs each year since 2008. These budget cuts can impact low-income and uninsured families. The damages created by the budget cuts makes it difficult for local health departments to address maternal and child health disparities. However, a budget increase for the maternal and child health program, especially prenatal care, can help reduces the risk of pregnancy-related
The Institute of Medicine Committee on Public Health Strategies to Improve Health issued a report that distinguished the impacts public health in the United States. The committee determined that in order to improve health outcomes in the United States we will have to alter the way this nation invests in public health. Basically, put more resources toward population-based prevention efforts; population-based prevention requires stable funding for public health departments. Local health departments have many responsibilities to ensure the public is protected from preventable diseases, environmental hazards, and other threats. Sufficient and sustainable funding is vital to ensure local health departments have and maintain the ability to carry out the activities necessary to produce healthiness and wellness in their communities. Evidence from the NACCHO’s Economic Surveillance Surveys show that expenditures per capita among local health departments are related to both quantity and quality of public health activities …show more content…
Cuts in local health departments’ budgets has outlasted the official end of the Great Recession. As a result, some local health department financed programs are at risk. Regardless of the high demand for educating and improving the well-being of mothers, infants, and children, local health departments’ capacity to deliver these services is slowing fading away. NACCHO’s Economic Surveillance Surveys found that 15% to 25% of local health departments cut their maternal and child health programs each year since 2008. These budget cuts can impact low-income and uninsured families. The damages created by the budget cuts makes it difficult for local health departments to address maternal and child health disparities. However, a budget increase for the maternal and child health program, especially prenatal care, can help reduces the risk of pregnancy-related