A snapshot of Division of Public Health

A Division Of The Georgia Department Of Community Health
A SNAPSHOT OF
DIVISION OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Overview The Georgia Department of Community Health, Division of Public Health is responsible for disease control and prevention and the promotion of healthy lifestyles. Public Health's essential services include:
Assess the health status of the population Establish and implement sound public health policy Inform and educate people so they have the resources and skills necessary to live healthy Investigate, identify and prevent environmental conditions that adversely impact health Link people to needed health services such as family planning or immunization Conduct surveillance and research on influenza, food borne pathogens and many other harmful conditions
A staff of approximately 6,450 state and county public health employees, located in the state office, 18 health districts and 159 county health departments administer services that promote the health and well-being of the whole community. County public health departments also offer direct health care to low-income people and people in underserved areas of the state, and work with private medical providers to assure that these groups receive needed care.
Public Health is comprised of seven main program areas; Health Promotion & Disease Prevention, Maternal & Child Health, Infectious Disease & Immunization, Environmental Health, Epidemiology, Vital Records and the State Public Health Laboratory. Public Health's fiscal year 2010 budget was $592.3 million, including $158.6 million in state funds.
Health Promotion & Disease Prevention Health Promotion & Disease Prevention programs implement population based programs and services aimed at reducing disease risks, promoting healthy youth development, targeting unhealthy behaviors, providing access to early detection and treatment services and improving management of chronic diseases.
Health promotion strategies used to address the five key action areas include: health communication; health education; self help/mutual aid; organizational change; community development and mobilization; advocacy; and policy development. It is the combination of multiple strategies applied across the five action areas that makes health promotion effective.
Maternal & Child Health The Division of Maternal & Child Health (MCH) works to promote and improve the health and well-being of women, children and families by building MCH epidemiology and data capacity at the state and local levels to effectively use information or public health actions.
Infectious Disease & Immunization Through collaboration with public and private providers, advocacy groups, and other stakeholders, the Infectious Disease & Immunization program works to increase immunization rates for all Georgians and decrease the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases.
Environmental Health Provide primary prevention through a combination of surveillance, education, enforcement, and assessment programs designed to identify, prevent and abate the environmental conditions that adversely impact human health.
2 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, Ga 30303 w www.dch.georgia.gov January 2011

A Snapshot of Division of Public Health
Epidemiology The Epidemiology program is organized into four areas; Acute Disease Epidemiology (ADES), Chronic Disease, Injury & Environmental (CDIEE), Maternal & Child Health (MCH), and Office of Health Indicators for Planning (OHIP). The mission of each area is as follows:
The mission of ADES is to optimize the health of Georgians by preventing and mitigating certain communicable and/or notifiable infectious diseases.
The mission of CDIEE is to systematically collect, analyze, interpret and disseminate data on chronic diseases, injuries and environmental exposures among Georgians.
The mission of MCH is to promote and improve the health and well-being of women, children and families by building MCH epidemiology and data capacity at the state and local levels to effectively use information or public health actions.
The major purpose of OHIP is to provide valid and reliable evidence about the health status of the population of Georgia. The evidence of health status and other health related phenomena provided by OHIP is used to direct the Division's policies and actions.
Vital Records The mission of the State Office of Vital Records is to provide accurate records and data concerning vital events to Georgians and other stakeholders in an expeditious and friendly manner.
State office staff:
Prepare certified copies of birth and death records (nearly 200,000 copies each year)
Record and enter all occurrences of Georgia vital events into the vital records database (more than 318,000 records each year)
Provide services to walk in customers (more than 43,000 persons each year)
Provide county custodians of vital records with copies of birth and death certificates (more than 213,000 copies each year)
Prepare delayed certificates of birth, amend birth and death records, complete new birth certificates upon receipt of adoption orders and process legitimation and paternity acknowledgments (nearly 15,000 documents each year)
State Health Laboratory The State Health Laboratory program works to improve the health status of Georgians by providing accurate, timely and confidential clinical and non-clinical laboratory testing in support of Division of Public Health programs, activities and initiatives as well as performing tests for Emergency Preparedness.
To accomplish the role of providing appropriate support for continually evolving public health programs, the Georgia Public Health Laboratory provides screening, diagnostic and reference laboratory services to citizens of the State through county health departments, public health clinics, physicians, other clinical laboratories, hospitals and state agencies.