Washington, D.C., August 28, 2006 – The American Public Health Association (APHA) today urged immediate action to avert critical shortages of public health workers who respond to public health threats and emergencies on the eve of the one-year anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma on the Gulf Coast and the five-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Unless current public health work force trends are reversed, the nation will experience a major staffing shortage that could leave greater numbers of Americans vulnerable to health crises such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters and disease pandemics. The number of public health workers dropped from 220 workers per 100,000 Americans in 1980 to 158 workers per 100,000 Americans in 2000, according to recent research. In the next few years, state and federal public health agencies could lose up to half of their work force to retirement, the private sector and other opportunities.
“Our emerging public health work force crisis comes at a time when Americans are facing a host of risks to their health and safety, from bioterrorism to pandemic influenza and environmental disasters,” said Georges C. Benjamin, MD, FACP, executive director of APHA. “We must build our supply of trained professionals who will staff the frontlines in responding to public health threats and emergencies. States should evaluate their work force needs and establish programs to identify development and training opportunities. Medical devices and disease tracking instruments are ineffectual without adequately educated and trained workers.
“Our public health system is already overburdened by new demands and responsibilities on employees, and we must plan now for the next emergency,” Benjamin said. “At the same time, we risk losing ground on responding to ongoing health problems, such as obesity, heart disease and cancer. Federal funding for recruiting and retaining public health workers must increase exponentially to protect Americans.”
APHA today also released an issue brief, “The Public Health Workforce Shortage: Left Unchecked, Will We Be Protected?,” which explores the precipitous decline in public health professionals and resources and the impact on the health of Americans, and puts forth key legislative and policy recommendations. A study by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and the Council of State Governments found that the average age of state public health workers is about 47 years, seven years older than the average age of the nation’s work force. Current vacancy rates are as high as 20 percent in some state public health agencies and turnover rates have reached 14 percent in some parts of the country.
The most severe work force shortages are found in such vital fields as epidemiology, nursing, laboratory science and environmental health professions that are essential to successfully track the spread of flu and mumps, provide immunizations and community education, protect our air and water supply and detect health problems in newborns.
APHA urges that the following policy and legislative solutions be implemented to avert a major public health work force crisis:
- Establish federally funded public health work force scholarship and loan repayment programs. Such programs should be modeled after those outlined in the Public Health Preparedness Workforce Development Act, introduced by Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.);
- Make a renewed investment in programs under the auspices of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) that fulfill the objectives of Titles VII and VIII of the Public Health Service Act. Such programs would rebuild, strengthen and diversify such professions as epidemiology, environmental health, maternal and child health and nursing;
- Increase core financial support for the public health infrastructure;
- Enhance leadership development programs for the public health work force; and
- Expand internship and fellowship programs in the public health professions, in such agencies as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The full text of the public health work force policy brief is available here.