Journal of Public Health Management presents new ideas for building better public health workforce

Nov 6 2009

A recent special supplement to the Journal of Public Health Management calls attention to the country's pressing need for a larger and fully capable public health workforce. The supplement, written by the leading academic voices in public health and published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW), also sheds light on the challenges the U.S. faces in adequately meeting public health needs. LWW is part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy.

"There is a range of health issues that public health leaders have faced for years, including persistent racial and ethnic health disparities and chronic health challenges such as obesity and diabetes," said editor-in-chief Lloyd F. Novick MD, MPH. "But in the past few years, we have also struggled to accommodate emerging infectious diseases, terrorism and bioterrorism, and an escalating number of natural disasters. This supplement presents new ideas that can energize the public health field to develop solutions to the many challenges we face in building a better public health workforce."

The supplement provides a summary of the issues that have limited the growth of the public health workforce, and offers methodologies to improve research in and about the field. Supplement authors also offer insights on new strategies to recruit and inspire young people to careers in health and science.

"We have great optimism that a better understanding of the development of the public health workforce will help to build the much needed public health infrastructure for a healthier nation," said Dr. Novick. "This collection of commentary and insight can help to inspire, energize, and motivate researchers to resolve issues challenging the growth of our public health workforce."

Source: Journal of Public Health Management