Public Health Infrastructure and Systems
 Local public health infrastructure includes the systems, competencies, frameworks, relationships, and resources that enable public health agencies to perform their core functions and essential services. Infrastructure categories encompass human, organizational, informational, legal, policy, and fiscal resources.
Richard Hofrichter, NACCHO's Senior Analyst for Health Equity, contributed "Health Equity: Exploring the Social and Economic Dimensions" to the 2009 edition of America's Health Rankings, A Call to Action for People and Their Communities. The piece asserts that effective action to eliminate health inequities and establish the foundations for health requires organized, systematic efforts by organizations and individuals. The major advances in life expectancy in the U.S. that occurred in the early part of the twentieth century stemmed from massive social change and the movements that supported those changes, such as the end to child labor, the introduction of housing and factory codes, the eight-hour work day, improved wage and work standards, and so forth. Individuals, community leaders, employers, policymakers and health professionals have the responsibility to show leadership through a variety of actions. To download this portion of America's Health Rankings please click here. More » |
