Strengthening our public health system so it is better prepared to promote health and protect all Amricans from a wide range of threats, from bioterrorism to emerging infectious diseases to health problems such as obesity, tobacco use and asthma.

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ESEARCH RELEASED LATE IN 2004 by Trust for America’s Health shows that our nation’s public health system needs to be better prepared to promote health and protect Americans from a wide range of threats—from bioterrorism to infectious diseases to preventable health problems such as obesity, tobacco use and asthma. Ready or Not: Protecting the Public’s Health in the Age of Bioterrorism, a report supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and others, found that after three years and $3 billion in federal bioterrorism spending, states are still struggling with basic preparedness requirements—from upgrading public health laboratories to improving communications and disease surveillance systems. The report also found that state and local public health agencies continue to be underfunded and not adequately prepared to deal with other health threats, such as cancer, asthma and obesity.

To sustain focus on the nation’s critical public health needs, we concentrated on helping state and local public health leaders build skills in information management, communications, advocacy and performance measurement. In 2004 RWJF supported several key initiatives:

• Information Systems. The improvement of processing and sharing of critical information is vital to an effective public health department. The Foundation collaborated with the National Institutes of Health to launch a public health informatics fellowship program to create a sustainable pipeline of future well-trained leaders in essential information systems. Our continued support of the Public Health Informatics Institute led to a successful collaboration among state public health lab directors to develop common core requirements and design specifications for information management systems that can serve the needs of fast-paced, 21st century labs and allow immediate exchange of information between local, state and national public health agencies.
• Leadership Training. The RWJF State Health Leadership Initiative offers a week-long intensive training and mentoring program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government that trains newly appointed state health officers to lead their agencies more effectively and promote cross-state collaboration. These new public health leaders develop and hone their skills and learn from the experiences of other officials who have already faced public health threats—from SARS and West Nile virus to chronic diseases like asthma.
• Essential Services. What are the most essential services that public health departments must provide and that citizens should expect? To help address that question, RWJF supported the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) to identify the standards essential to any high-performing public health agency. The project also included a webcast “town hall” discussion among members of NACCHO to consider basic standards for public health agencies.
• Future Scholars and Leaders. Infectious diseases travel the world more rapidly than ever before. Bioterrorism is a real threat. Every day we are finding out more about the role of environment and lifestyle choices in the health of the American public. Who will be the future problem solvers for these health threats and disease complexities? RWJF’s Young Epidemiology Scholars competition, in partnership with the College Board, provided scholarships for high school juniors and seniors to encourage promising young investigators to develop solutions to today’s and tomorrow’s public health challenges.