141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

279145
Establishing meaningful community health planning partnerships using health in all policies principles

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Carra Moroni, M.Ed., RD, LD , Health Planning, Evaluation and Program Development, Houston Department of Health and Human Services, Houston, TX
Community Transformation is a movement taking place across the nation that is changing the way we address health and the prevention of chronic diseases. Houston Community Transformation is a Houston Department of Health and Human Services initiative focused on impacting health at the population level through policy and systems interventions which lead to enhanced livability of the community and improved health. It has been widely recognized that a key strategy to successful community health planning is creating and developing partnerships across government sectors. It has also been widely acknowledged that working across sectors is difficult. Utilizing the global principles of Health in All Policies is an essential element in the public health movement taking place in communities around the country in order to build meaningful partnerships that can lead to positive changes in public policy. Developing a culture of cooperation that can bridge the long-standing practice of government silos to achieve a more joined-up approach amenable to allowing a role for the health sector at the table with city departments including Planning, Public Works and Engineering, Transportation and other nontraditional health partners is a complex goal. The Houston Community Transformation Initiative has integrated the Health in All Policies approach as the core component into the partnership creation and development process. Through this method of engagement the initiative has begun creating regular platforms for dialogue with other arms of city government to find or create opportunities for collaboration that achieve their goals and in doing so also advance health.

Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and prevention
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Describe the benefit of health in all policy principles in partnership development. Explain the issues in implementing a health in all policies approach across city or county government sectors.

Keywords: Public Health Movements, Public Policy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the project manager for a federally funded grant focused on chronic disease prevention through policy, environmental, and infrastructure chance strategies. I have also managed a state funded, regional obesity prevention program. My interest is educating nontraditional public health partners on the relationship between community design, public policy, livability, and the chronic disease prevention with the goal of creating an understanding that health is in the hands of all government sectors.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.