The responsibilities, functions, and powers of Local Boards of Health in different states Essay

A local board of health can be defined as an administrative body generally concerned with recognizing the health needs of the people and coordinating and implementing health initiatives on either a municipal, county, state or provincial level. The responsibilities, functions and powers of Local Boards of Health vary by state. However, their objectives, vision and mission statements remain constant across the country. The four common themes present in the mission statements of local boards of health are (a) administration, (b) representation of the interests of citizens, (c) program planning, and (d) evaluation of organizational effectiveness. All of the aforementioned themes are focused on organizing community efforts aimed at the prevention of disease and the promotion of health. These four themes also focus on coordinating efforts to ensure that the three core functions of Public Health are taken into consideration when constructing health policies. The three core function of public health can be defined as assessment, policy development, and assurance (NACCHO, 2009). The assessment aspect of public health consist of monitoring health status to identify community health problems and the diagnoses and investigation of health problems and health hazards in a community. The policy development aspect of public health is aimed at informing, educating, and empowering people with health issues and mobilizing community partnerships to identify and resolve these health issues (NACCHO, 2009). The assurance aspect of public health focuses on the following enforcing laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety linking people to the public health services assuring a competent public health and personal health workforce is in place evaluating the effectiveness, accessibility and quality of personal and population based health services administration (NACCHO, 2009).
Administration
Governmental public health agencies at the local, state, and federal levels are often referred to as the backbone of the public health system. Public health agencies, such as local boards of health and local health departments (LHDs) play a significant role in the governmental infrastructure of our public health system and are classified as the administrative bodies (CDC, 2008). While these aforementioned agencies are directly responsible for many public health activities and initiatives that vary from state to state, it is imperative that transparent partnerships are formed between all of the public health agencies at the different levels of government and also with public health organizations, both in the private and public sectors (CDC, 2008). To construct a more comprehensive approach to addressing public health issues, it is important for governmental public health agencies to collaborate with other entities whose mission influence but are not focused on health related goals. Such entities can include academic institutions, advocacy groups, faith-based organizations, charities, private foundations, media outlets, and businesses. Also, alliances within private sector organizations such as health care providers, insurers, and public health institutions can be extremely helpful in the implementation of public health initiatives (CDC, 2008). The collaboration between governmental public health agencies in private sectors will ideally produce more comprehensive and effective health polices to help achieve the wide ranging missions of public health.