The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), in cooperation with The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is proud to announce the release of its latest publication. Local Public Health Agency Infrastructure: A Chartbook provides an extensive look at the infrastructure of our nation’s local public health agencies.

It includes over 60 figures and tables on:

• programs and services
• workforce
• partnerships and collaboration
• community health assessment, and
• general characteristics of LPHAs (local public health agencies).

The Chartbook can be used in many ways: to compare a health department to the nationwide picture, to educate others about local public health agencies, to learn what local public health agencies feel are their strengths and challenges, and to help develop programs and policy for the community.

As the national association representing local public health agencies nationwide, NACCHO has a profound interest in assuring that local public health agencies have the capacity, infrastructure, and information needed to help strengthen and improve the health of communities. NACCHO’s research on infrastructure is one of the few national sources of data on local public health practice, according to Thomas L. Milne, NACCHO executive director.

Patrick Libbey, NACCHO president and Health Director of Thurston County, Wash. Public Health and Social Services Department says, “Recent events have brought to the nation’s attention what public health officials have said for several years. The infrastructure of public health needs to be strengthened.” The results of this study will help make programmatic and policy decisions. It identifies some of the critical areas of need, such as workforce development and funding, as well as identifies the strengths of public health.

(If you are interested in ordering the Chartbook, please contact Anjum Hajat at NACCHO, (202) 783-5550 x253 or ahajat@naccho.org. The cost is $30 per book for those organizations and individuals who are not members of NACCHO and $15 for active NACCHO members. You can also download it from the web at www.naccho.org for free.)