Short Course on Public Health Governance
This is a continuing professional development course available to North Carolina Area Health Education Centers (AHECs). Learn more about the Gillings School’s partnership with NC AHEC and see our full continuing professional development catalog.
For public health and non-public health agencies to work together, public health governance is an important concept for all partners to understand. Governance is, broadly understood, the set of formal and informal institutions that determine how collective decisions are made. In the context of public health, these decisions include those that are made by or for public health agencies as well as those made outside of a public health agency’s jurisdiction.
Increasingly, public health professionals recognize that the largest nonmedical factors influencing health — such as housing, transportation, education, and food access — exist beyond the formal authority of most public health agencies. Decisions about the structure and distribution of these factors are primarily made outside of health agencies and are therefore often made without respect to the consequences they have for a community’s health.
By understanding the actual authority of public health agencies, both public health and non-public health agencies can better understand how to work that authority to address community health needs.
Audience
The intended audience for this course is employees of local government (city and county) in North Carolina, regardless of the department, who want to understand how their own agencies’ decisions affect a community’s health. This may include any level of local government employee, including those in mid and-senior level positions (e.g., county commissioners, county managers, city council members, mayors, department directors, assistant directors).
Learning Objectives
- Learn the fundamentals of public health thinking.
- Understand the scope and authority of local and state governmental public health agencies.
- Understand the role non-health agencies have in making decisions that impact the community’s health.
Description
Within the profession of public health, there is increasing recognition that the largest determinants of community health — the so-called “social determinants of health,” such as housing, transportation, education, and food access — exist beyond the formal authority of most public health agencies. Decisions about the structure and distribution of these determinants are primarily made outside of health agencies and are therefore often made without respect to the consequences they have for the community’s health. However, at the same time as public health professions are called to work to carry out this work, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed several sources of misunderstanding regarding the actual authority of public health agencies, and therefore how to work that authority to address community health needs. The call to work with external agencies and conversations regarding public health authority bear upon the core theme of public health governance. Governance is, broadly understood, the set of formal and informal institutions that determine how collective decisions are made. In the context of public health, these decisions include those that are made by or for public health agencies as well as those made outside of a public health agency’s jurisdiction which nevertheless have profound implications for the public’s health. Through the lens of public health governance, this course seeks to educate local government leaders operating outside of formal public health agencies on the fundamentals of public health thinking, the scope and authority of public health agencies, and the role that their agencies have in improving the community’s health.
Details
Duration
6 hours (3 sessions, 2 hours each)
Formats Available
Live webinar
Instructor Information
Karl Johnson, PhD
Assistant Professor, Public Health Leadership and Practice
Gillings School of Global Public Health
Request a Course
Local AHECs can request this course by completing our request form.
