Public health workforce trends since 1980: myth or reality?

Increasingly, the national spotlight has been on the needs of the public health workforce fueled, in part, by assertions that the number of public health workers has declined since 1980. A closer examination suggests that there is little evidence to support the claim of a shrinking workforce and that the number of public health workers has actually been increasing at a rate greater than that of the general population. These findings suggest that the evidence base for public health workforce preparedness efforts must be strengthened.

The public health workforce, 2006: new challenges.

Efforts to develop the public health workforce since 2001 have benefited from increased funding resulting from concerns over terrorism and other public health threats. This largesse has been accompanied by the need for greater accountability for results. The size, composition, and distribution of the public health workforce have long been policy concerns.

MAPP in the classroom: oxymoron or opportunity?

As Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) becomes increasingly important for community public health practice, it is critical to examine what learning MAPP entails as well as its barriers and benefits. Competency-based education and training interventions that prepare public health workers to effectively contribute to the implementation of MAPP in their communities face significant obstacles. Current public health education and training programs are poorly positioned to enhance MAPP-related competencies among significant numbers of public health students and workers.

Roadmap for public health workforce preparedness.

Major initiatives to improve the public health workforce since 1997 have been driven by a hundred-fold increase in federal financial support, technologies providing greater access to public health workers, and an emerging national priority to prepare for and respond to bioterrorism and other urgent threats. This report examines the status of the national public health workforce development agenda, including its major strategies and emphases, and offers a roadmap for assessing, enhancing, and recognizing competent performance through comprehensive public health workforce preparedness management systems.

Governmental public health in the United States: the implications of federalism.

Governmental public health activities in the United States have evolved over time as a result of two forces: the nature and perceived importance of threats to the population's health and safety, and changing relationships among the various levels of government. Shifts toward a more state-centered form of federalism in the second half of the twentieth century weakened key aspects of the governmental public health enterprise, including its leadership and coordination, by the century's end. These developments challenge governmental public health responses to the new threats and increased societal expectations of the early twenty-first century.