Environmental Public Health Department Structure Field Survey
September 30, 2024
The absence of a standardized framework for local environmental public health departments poses significant challenges for environmental public health officials seeking to secure the necessary resources, including staff, funding, and equipment, to effectively promote and protect health.
This project, funded by the 仙人掌视频, aims to develop national benchmarks for staffing environmental public health departments. The study examines the factors that environmental public health professionals consider when making decisions about their workforce, such as how local governmental environmental public health departments should be structured, staffed, and funded.
The study looks at 15 core environmental public health programs that are essential for protecting and promoting public health:
- Food safety/food protection
- Potable water
- Swimming pools and recreational water safety
- Onsite wastewater
- Emergency preparedness (includes on an "as needed" basis)
- School safety and inspection
- Early childcare/daycare
- Non-school institutions and licensed establishments
- Zoonoses, vectors, pests
- Lead prevention
- Body art
- Climate
- Indoor Air Quality and Radon
- Healthy Homes
- Hazardous Materials
Data collected from the study will be analyzed by the University of Minnesota, only reported in aggregate, and will not identify specific individuals, programs, or private information.
This information will inform the development of a framework for the core environmental public health programs that will help to standardize and strengthen environmental public health practices across the country.