Public Health Law and Policy
Historically, public health laws and regulations have helped decrease and prevent the spread of communicable diseases, regulate motor vehicle safety, improve sanitation and hygiene, improve air quality, and much more. One of NACCHO's goals is to increase the public health community's understanding of law and how it may be used to support health departments in better serving their communities and increasing health equity.
NACCHO's efforts in this space include highlighting the importance of working closely with public health attorneys, building the capacity and capabilities of local public health in utilizing the law to improve programs and policies, supporting the use of a health in all policies (HiAP) approach in communities, and increasing community understanding of policy and development.
Due to an overwhelming response, the 2024 Public Health Law Convening has reached maximum capacity, and both registration and the waitlist are now closed.
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Health in all Policies (HiAP) describes a framework that attempts to ensure that policy decisions have neutral or beneficial impacts on determinants of health. Please use the link to access our resources supporting the utilization of HiAP in local policy work.
This resource is intended to assist public health professionals in improving their department's administrative preparedness capabilities and ensure that their department's administrative operations support emergency response activities by encouraging collaborative preparatory work among preparedness, legal, human resource, procurement, and other staff.
Through the support from the Department of Justice, NACCHO collaborated with Allegheny County, PA to develop an emergency operations plan template to help juvenile detention centers respond to various public health threats, including illicit drug overdoses, infectious disease outbreaks, and severe weather events. NACCHO and Allegheny County collaborated with the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center and other local agencies and organizations to develop, improve, and implement the plan and strengthen facility preparedness.
Below are resources that were developed through this partnership:
This report, developed in partnership with the Network for Public Health Law, provides a brief history of public health authority and an overview of the forces seeking to limit it.
NACCHO works with the following organizations in the pursuit of building the capacity for public health law at the local level:
The following is a list of partner developed resources:
We would love to hear your health department's story! Please read more about the value of stories and tips for storytelling. Please complete the online form or download this document and email it to [email protected] to add your story to the website.
Join NACCHO's Public Health Law Workgroup. Please visit NACCHO's Advisory Workgroup page to join.
To learn more about public health law, please reach out to [email protected].