The DR Congo-Uganda corridor: One Health promised, not delivered.
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Letter↗
Biomedical subjects
Maureen Y Lichtveld
Publications and source records attributed to Maureen Y Lichtveld.
The public health infrastructure and our nation's health.
Threats to Americans' health-including chronic disease, emerging infectious disease, and bioterrorism-are present and growing, and the public health system is responsible for addressing these challenges. Public health systems in the United States are built on an infrastructure of workforce, information systems, and organizational capacity; in each of these areas, however, serious deficits have been well documented. Here we draw on two 2003 Institute of Medicine reports and present evidence for current threats and the weakness of our public health infrastructure. We describe major initiatives to systematically assess, invest in, rebuild, and evaluate workforce competency, information systems, and organizational capacity through public policy making, practical initiatives, and practice-oriented research. These initiatives are based on applied science and a shared federal-state approach to public accountability. We conclude that a newly strengthened public health infrastructure must be sustained in the future through a balancing of the values inherent in the federal system.
Accreditation↗
Are public health services available where they are most needed? An examination of local health department services.
Local health departments (LHDs) play a key role in the provision of public health services in the United States. Little is known about the extent to which LHD service availability varies by the socioeconomic characteristics of regional populations. This study merges data from the 1996 National Association of County and City Health Officials LHD profile survey and the Area Resource File system. The empirical analysis suggests that LHDs in low-socioeconomic background counties are more likely to provide services such as family planning. For other services, either LHD involvement is low across the board or the distribution of LHD services does not favor low-socioeconomic background counties. Thus, there is often room for improvements in service availability and targeting.
Catchment Area, Health↗
Public health workforce development: progress, challenges, and opportunities.
The public health workforce is key to strengthening public health infrastructure. National partners have articulated a vision of a sustainable and competent workforce prepared to deliver essential public health services. Six strategic elements provide a framework for action: monitoring workforce composition; identifying competencies and developing related curriculum; designing an integrated life-long learning delivery system; providing individual and organizational incentives to ensure competency development; conducting evaluation and research and assuring financial support. Partners convened in January 2003 to review progress and to re-evaluate strategies in light of the recently released Institute of Medicine reports on infrastructure and workforce issues. Although significant challenges remain, there is convergence on priorities for competency development, research questions to be addressed and next steps in the national dialogue on certification and credentialing in public health.
Disaster Planning↗
Credentialing the public health workforce: an idea whose time has come.
The importance of a well-prepared public health workforce is widely recognized and appreciated. Strategies for enhancing workforce capacity and competency have been discussed by agencies, associations, committees, and expert panels since the landmark 1988 Institute of Medicine report. The need to foster the development of incentives for lifelong learning and career growth is of current interest to national public health associations and federal agencies. The fact that the public health workforce is not a single profession, but rather a fabric of many professions dedicated to a common endeavor, creates challenges to any singular approach. This article explores the relationships among competency, certification, and accreditation and summarizes the expert panel dialogue on workforce development incentives, specifically regarding certification and credentialing. The authors challenge public health leaders to become actively involved in framing the issues so the best possible strategies can be developed.
Accreditation↗
A research agenda for public health workforce development.
In the past decades, public health research has focused on categorical rather than cross-cutting or systems issues. Little research has been carried out on the infrastructure required to support public health programs. This article describes the results of an interactive process to develop a research agenda for public health workforce development to inform all those with stakes in the public health system. This research is defined as a multidisciplinary field of inquiry, both basic and applied, that examines the workforce in terms of costs, quality, accessibility, delivery, organization, financing, and outcomes of public health services to increase knowledge and understanding of the relationships among workforce and structure, processes, and effects of public health services. A logic model and five priority research areas resulted from meetings of expert panels during 2000 to 2003. Innovative public and private partnerships will be required to advance cross-cutting and systems-focused research.
Health Services Research↗