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About PHPPO
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The Public Health Practice Program Office (PHPPO) welcomes this opportunity to brief you on our accomplishments and to discuss our plans to respond to new challenges in the coming year.

Milestones of Existing Programs: 

  • The Public Health Training Network, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) award-winning distance learning network, has delivered nearly 1,000,000 training opportunities since PHTN commenced operations in 1993.
  • The Public Health Leadership Institute accepted its 335th scholar and has now catalyzed the creation of state and regional leadership institutes providing opportunities to health professionals in 27 states.
  • The National Laboratory Training Network reached over 8,000 individuals through its seven regional training centers, providing state-of-the-art public health laboratory methods.
  • The Sustainable Management Development Program graduated its 100th graduate and has developed regional or country public health management training  programs in Nigeria and Vietnam.
  • The Information Network for Public Health Officials has led the process of linking the public health community to the Internet, providing access to online information and strengthening information system integration.

New initiatives and activities: 

  • In collaboration with the National Foundation for CDC, HRSA, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Kellogg Foundation, initiated a new Public Health Management Development Network.
  • In collaboration with other CDC CIOs and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registy (ATSDR), led the production of a new guide, Principles of Community Engagement.
  • In collaboration with the Institute of Medicine and other public health partners, participated in the Public Health Roundtable which produced a highly praised report, "Healthy Communities - The Future of Public Health Revisited."
  • Complete and publish an inventory of laboratory practices in a statistically representative sample of the nation's laboratories.
  • Lead the effort to develop national objectives for the Healthy People 2010 focus area on public health infrastructure.

We are proud of these achievements, but find ourselves faced with many future challenges:

  • Less than half of the public health workforce have had training in public health.
  • Less than half of the state and local public health departments have adequate communications and information systems.
  • Less than half of the nation's local public health agencies have the capacity to provide the essential public health services.
  • We have no data systems to monitor these alarming trends in the public health infrastructure.

In summary, the nation is faced with a silent crisis in which the nation's public health infrastructure is fragile and the survival of many health departments is in substantial jeopardy.  To address this crisis, PHPPO will recommit, in 1998, its efforts to strengthen the public health system through workforce development, information system development, laboratory improvement, and system research and development.  The lauded Institute of Medicine Report, "The Future of Public Health" was published 10 years ago.  In 1998, we will reflect back on a decade of progress since the report was published, evaluating the impact of our work, and recommit to working in partnership with CDC/ATSDR colleagues and partners through the U.S. and globally to strengthen the practice of public health in the community.


This page last reviewed: June 17, 2004
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd, Atlanta, GA 30333, U.S.A
Tel: (404) 639-3311 / Public Inquiries: (404) 639-3534 / (800) 311-3435
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