California Department of Public Health

California Department of Public Health

Public health is defined by Merriam-Webster (2010) as “the art and science dealing with the protection and improvement of community health by organized community effort and including preventive medicine and sanitary and social science.” Public health is governed by agencies on three different levels of government: local, state, and national. All three levels of government work in tandem with one another in the pursuit of improving the health of this nation. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is constantly striving to improve the lives of her citizens by providing quality information regarding infections and disease, while also working with local and national levels to improve quality of life across the nation.

The health of America’s citizens is governed by public health agencies on three different levels of government, consisting of local, state, and national governments. Generally, federal or national levels of public health provides the financial support for local public health programs and local public health agencies provides direct care to individual or the community. State public health agencies have generally worked with both levels of government by being the medium in which funds can be provided to the local public health agencies. According to Keck & Scutchfield (2003), “…state health departments retain ultimate responsibility for protecting the health of their citizens…”(p. 120, para. 5). The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) works with local public health agencies to identify and determine goals in which to protect the citizens of California. Although state public health agencies do not provide direct care or interactions with individuals or the community, it is through the state public health agency that standards and goals are created to ensure efficiency and quality services are being provided to the public. The CDPH’s goal is to ensure quality services and pertinent...