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A Call To Action
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Historically, public health professionals have worked largely behind-the-scenes
to improve the health and safety of American communities. Today, public health
and its leaders are in the spotlight. Strengthening public health systems and
organizations is an enterprise of unprecedented interest. We in public health
must capitalize on this interest by seeking new opportunities to assess and
improve the ways we deliver public health services in our states and our
communities.
On behalf of national partner organizations, we are pleased to present you with
the National Public Health Performance Standards Program (NPHPSP). The NPHPSP
instruments are designed to strengthen state public health systems, local public
health systems, and local public health governance. The NPHPSP instruments can
serve as valuable tools in determining current performance and capacity,
identifying areas for system improvement, strengthening state and local partnerships,
and assuring that a strong public health system is in place to respond effectively
to both day-to-day public health issues and to public health emergencies.
As public health leaders, we can leverage the current prominence public health has on
the national agenda by thoughtfully acting to assess and strengthen the infrastructure
that supports public health systems. Our nation's health depends on us, especially now.
By building a public health infrastructure that sustains both traditional and emergency
response services, we can meet the on-going and the new challenges of public health
in the 21st century.
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Benefits of Performance Measurement
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The use of the NPHPSP instruments should result in numerous benefits including:
- Improving organizational and community
communication and collaboration, by bringing partners
to the same table.
- Educating participants about public health and the interconnectedness
of activities, which lead to a higher appreciation and awareness of the
many activities related to improving the public's health.
- Strengthening the diverse network of partners
within state and local public health systems, which can lead to more cohesion
among partners, better coordination of activities and resources, and less
duplication of services.
- Identifying strengths and weaknesses that
can be addressed in quality improvement efforts.
- Providing a benchmark for public health practice
improvements, by setting a "gold standard" to which public health
systems can aspire.
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This page last reviewed: Feb 19, 2004
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