Oral

Whether it’s strengthening tobacco control policies or ensuring a community is prepared for a health emergency, public health departments, at the state, territorial, local, and tribal level, play vital roles in utilizing public health policy to address critical health problems in their communities. In order to strengthen health departments’ capacity to utilize policy for population health improvement, APHA, with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Public Health Improvement Initiative (NPHII), awarded funding to six state, local, and tribal health departments to develop, implement, and/or evaluate an innovative policy approach. This session will discuss the goals and objectives of the project as well as lessons learned and success stories from the policy efforts, which span a range of health topics.

Session Objectives: 1. Explain the essential role of health departments and their partners in utilizing policy to address critical health problems. 2. Describe the barriers and facilitators to using policy at the local and state levels. 3. Identify promising practices and lessons learned from health departments that have strengthened their policy capacity and successfully utilized policy to affect positive health changes.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH) , Masters Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES)