Citation

Stanbury M, Anderson H, Blackmore C, Fagliano J, Heumann M, Kass D, McGeehin M. J. Public Health Manag. Pract. 2012; 18(5): 453-460.

Affiliation

Division of Environmental Health, Michigan Department of Community Health, Lansing (Ms Stanbury); Wisconsin Division of Public Health, Department of Health Services, Madison (Dr Anderson); Bureau of Environmental Public Health Medicine, Florida Department of Health, Tallahassee (Dr Blackmore); Environmental and Occupational Health Surveillance, New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, Trenton (Dr Fagliano); Office of Environmental Public Health, Oregon Public Health Division, Portland (Mr Heumann); New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York (Mr Kass); and Division of Environmental Hazard and Health Effects, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, and RTI International, North Carolina (Dr McGeehin).

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/PHH.0b013e31822d4c01

PMID

22836537

Abstract

Public health surveillance and epidemiology are the foundations for disease prevention because they provide the factual basis from which agencies can set priorities, plan programs, and take actions to protect the public's health. Surveillance for noninfectious diseases associated with exposure to agents in the environment like lead and pesticides has been a function of state health departments for more than 3 decades, but many state programs do not have adequate funding or staff for this function. Following the efforts to identify core public health epidemiology functions in chronic diseases, injury, and occupational health and safety, a workgroup of public health environmental epidemiologists operating within the organizational structure of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists has defined the essential core functions of noninfectious disease environmental epidemiology that should be present in every state health department and additional functions of a comprehensive program. These functions are described in terms of the "10 Essential Environmental Public Health Services" and their associated performance standards. Application of these consensus core and expanded functions should help state and large metropolitan health departments allocate resources and prioritize activities of their environmental epidemiologists, thus improving the delivery of environmental health services to the public.

Language: en