 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Rachel Barron-Simpson, MPH and LaKesha M. Robinson, MPH. Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, 2872 Woodcock Blvd, Suite 303, Atlanta, GA 30341, 770-458-3811, rsimpson@cste.org
In an effort to address the epidemiological abilities of public health agencies recommended by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), Healthy People 2010 Objective 23-14 and the National Action Alliance, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and its partners developed the Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Capacity Assessment. The 42-question assessment was formatted around the Ten Essential Public Health Services and aimed at the evaluation of human capacity, systems capacity and MCH data-related activities at state and territorial public health agencies as well as providing baseline information. Of the fifty-six states and territories that were invited to participate, fifty-two (93%) provided responses between November 2001 and March 2002. Various findings from the assessment include: few staff members carry out MCH data activities with the majority having master’s level training, most agencies report having adequate computer hardware and software capacity and there was variance in staff accessibility and analysis of MCH data sources. A few recommendations that were proposed include: states and territories having a minimum of one doctoral level MCH epidemiologist, MCH epidemiology/data staff strengthening the analysis and use of MCH related databases and the publication of MCH epidemiologist's work in peer-reviewed journals.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Essential Public Health Services, Epidemiology
Related Web page: www.cste.org
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.