| Local public health departments are continuously faced with numerous operational forces, both internal and external, which restrict their organizational ability to respond to urgent population demands in an efficient and effective manner. The question of how far these agencies are capable of adequate response is one which concerns both funding sources (at the federal, state and local levels) and the communities they serve.;This study was undertaken as part of a demonstration site to test the Assessment Protocol for Excellence in Public Health (APEXPH) developed by the National Association of County Health Officials. The research was conducted from January 1, 1990 to June 30, 1990 in a coastal city in California. Specifically, the purposes of this study are: (1) to examine a local public health department's capacity to identify and rank program priorities; (2) to collect and analyze local public health morbidity and mortality data in order to determine the leading health problems in the community; (3) to examine the role of community input as key element in a local health department's response to a leading health problem; (4) to examine the process through which these data are translated into responsive program objectives and a community health plan based upon priority ranked needs and community input for prenatal care.;The major results of this study were: (1) Public health departments do not appear to have systems in place to report major local public health issues to the community. (2) A joint review of the mortality data by public health officials and the community board members were able to identify and rank the leading health priorities of communicable disease, prenatal care, environmental health, social services, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases.;This study contributes to the much needed empirical literature on methods to evaluate public health departments and confirms the validity of the APEXPH tool in the assessment of public health organizational entities. |
