american public health association

american public health association

The Importance of the American Public Health Association

1. Introduction

In 1872, the American Public Health Association (APHA), a professional organization for physicians and others in the public health sector, was formed. Guided by a single mission – to protect and promote personal and environmental health, APHA has become an effective voice for prevention efforts. To protect the health of our nation, the APHA has grown to influence federal policy and legislation, develop policy to protect the health of the public and science-based policy, designed to foster government and corporate accountability. With a 50,000 strong and a century of experience, APHA is composed of health workers, consumer, environmental and workplace advocates, to name a few, all contributing to the collective effort of developing national health policy; and reducing health disparities, fostering health security, and promoting a healthy and educated populace. The Association publishes an impressive range of materials addressing numerous public health concerns. It publishes the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH), promotes The Nation’s Health, offers numerous fact sheets, and provides a broad range of assistance in research efforts. APHA pertains to the field of work I have gained interest in, public health. Public health is a field that aims to prevent disease, promote health, and protect the well-being of the public. Although I have not yet chosen a career, it is a field I am considering pursuing and the APHA has a great deal of information related to health careers and transitioning into the field of public health. This website and organization could also be a great resource and provide visibility and networking opportunities within the field. APHA provides a plethora of information on education programs, upcoming conferences and events and current job listings. This could be a useful tool for me now or in the future and an excellent way to get my foot in the door.

2. History and Mission

Today, the Association’s mission is to improve the health of the public and achieve equity in health status by advocating for and implementing preventive and control measures that will ultimately eliminate the acute and chronic diseases that plague Americans. The Association has a broad agenda. It works to impact the ability of people to live long or live well through efforts to encompass and organize the work of the public health field. APHA endeavors to enhance the ability of public health professionals and provide a neutral forum for the critical debate of issues that affect the health of Americans. APHA strives to prepare the next generation of public health professionals to protect health and the health of underserved and diverse communities. APHA works to translate science into practice at all levels of the public and to achieve access to a universal basic to advance public and private sector policy. APHA seeks to apply knowledge of every existing profession and discipline that affects health to lead a united and collective call to action on the issue of the proactive health movement. APHA is a forerunner to action-oriented on building a culture of health in America, a just and comprehensive system of health throughout the health and human service, and lastly, APHA acts on it all to maximize its members and organization to improving the public health and well-being of the citizens of America and influence the U.S. movement of global health.

The American Public Health Association (APHA) was born during a time in our nation’s history when life was predominantly short, unpleasant, and disease was a prevalent problem. Success in living a long and healthy life was based largely on one’s location and economic status. Most late 19th and early 20th-century working and immigrant families lived in poverty and squalor. Employers viewed workers and the working poor as expendable; a lifestyle that claimed many lives. At the same time, a new wave of tuberculosis, respiratory infections, and gastrointestinal disease resulting from the growing number of persons living in urban slums began to emerge, leaving death and chronic disability in its wake. It’s against this backdrop that the American Public Health Association emerged and has been leading the way to protect all Americans and their communities from preventable, serious health threats, striving to assure community-based health promotion and disease preventive services.

3. Achievements and Impact

The APHA has had far-reaching effects in its time. The association was responsible for the creation of the Children’s Bureau within the US Department of Labor, the Social Security Act, and the Welfare and Health Education Loan and Loan Insurance program to name a few. In 1998, the APHA successfully prevented the US Congress from further cutting Medicare funding. APHA thus plays a significant role in advocacy as a national and world health leader, and currently has an executive board position within the International Federation on Aging. APHA’s influence is felt not only within the United States but on an international level. 20% of our members are from outside the US and APHA has a large impact on global public health issues in this increasingly interconnected world. This is evidenced by their funding of the Global Health Council, the Pan American Health Organization, and the World Federation of Public Health Associations. APHA continues to be an innovator of progress and a harbinger of positive change in public health. APHA was formed with the goal of elevating the public’s health by providing professional direction to various fields and it has certainly lived up to its mission. This association has created standards for education and employment as well as implemented various programs. APHA’s founding board members would be proud to see that the association now accredits schools of public health nationwide to ensure that future public health professionals receive high-quality education. Additionally, APHA has given health educators professional direction by establishing a national certification system and later creating the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing. This credentialing system identifies a knowledge base that is essential to the professional practice of health education and is a reflection of that. Public health has been broadly defined as focused on the health of a community rather than the individual. Due to this, APHA’s discussion about characterizing public health and delineating the unique body of public health knowledge is not a novel one; APHA’s efforts to achieve this goal have been ongoing but have met with limited success. However, the Association has shown significant achievement in advancing the public health workforce.

4. Current Initiatives

The American Public Health Association, the largest association of public health professionals in the world, has many initiatives designed to strengthen public health for this generation and those to come. Persistence of Health Disparities. Despite overall progress in health status and life expectancy, these gains have not been shared across all populations within the United States. Racial and ethnic minorities as well as Americans living in poverty or with lower educational attainment still lag behind others on many health indicators. The Association is committed to monitoring the nation’s progress in eliminating disparities and to working to eliminate the root causes of health disparities. APHA recently launched a 12-month Campaign to Take a Stand on Health to reach its members and to mobilize them to work on this critical issue. A Leadership Collaborative developed an agenda for readers to act on health disparities and staff from 10 Sections work together and on broader organizational initiatives to address disparities issues. All of these efforts will help APHA fulfill its goal of being a premier organization in eliminating health disparities.

5. Call to Action

D. With the knowledge that human resources are the most critical factor in promoting and protecting health, APHA should support efforts to create healthier APHA members. A workforce health promotion event should be featured at the annual meetings as a model for occupational health programs. These programs should be utilized by employers as a method to better protect the health of the workforce and their families. This, in turn, will help to create healthier communities. APHA could serve as a consultant in this process, providing information and resources for creating healthier workplaces.

C. To acknowledge the growing diversity in our nation and in our Association, APHA should foster a repository of information and strategies to address the health needs of different population groups. This could be made available to the public and updated frequently. A great method to achieve this would be the formation of a Public Health Speakers Bureau drawn from APHA members that have expertise in health issues across the population spectrum. This group could promote public awareness of APHA and health issues and also serve to advise the Association on strategies to meet the needs of differing populations.

B. One step toward building healthier public policies would be to form a multidisciplinary Task Force on Health Policy. This task force would monitor, analyze, and recommend strategies to promote public health interests in local, state, and national policy development. This force could be made up of volunteers who would serve over a set period of time. A diverse group of professionals would be enlisted in an effort to incorporate views from varying vantage points. The ultimate goal would be to use the expertise and prestige of APHA to directly affect public policy with policies that promote healthier societies.

A. It is critical that one of the first steps in building a strong organization is to include the constituency, voice, and support of the public. This will require community outreach and the involvement of people-based organizations. One way to accomplish this task is to establish APHA staffed offices in each state that would oversee and address the public health needs of its residents. This, in turn, would help to keep health on the agenda in the state legislative and executive branches.

The time for talking about the importance of the American Public Health Association (APHA) has passed. We now need to take action and support our efforts with the resources that will bring about change. The following is a list of specific strategies and recommendations devised to promote, strengthen, and diversify the capacity of APHA.