Public Health Workforce Competencies: A collaborative effort to address health disparities for people with disabilities through workforce capacity building

Many public health professionals have never received training on addressing the unique needs of people with disabilities in their program design and implementation. This is particularly concerning as people with disabilities are more likely to have chronic health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, and heart disease. Although health disparities are evident, health promotion programs often fail to incorporate people living with disabilities. The Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) collaborated with the Disability and Health Program, Division of Human Development and Disability, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), through their Cooperative Agreement to convene a national group of 15 experts to compose and disseminate workforce competencies for public health professionals. These competencies are intended to ensure that the work of public health professionals includes people living with disabilities and addresses evident health disparities. Experts developed four competencies with specific strategies and accompanying field resources to increase understanding for existing public health professionals of key disability topics. AUCD continues to reach out to potential public health partners to further develop and disseminate the document as a resource for the field. Future plans include developing training collaborations on these competencies. Usage data on how these competencies have altered perspectives and impacted public health programs will be available during the presentation.Core competencies on understanding disability and addressing disparities in public health efforts will be encouraged as an essential training element for public health professionals.