$250,000 Awarded to NDOH Navajo Public Health Infrastructure Development Program

The Navajo Division of Health announced that the Navajo Public Health Infrastructure Development Programs received an award of $250,000 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This funding, made possible through the Prevention and Public Health Fund created by the Affordable Care Act of 2010, and, administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support, aims to make fundamental changes and enhancements in health department organizations and their practices to help to improve the delivery and impact of public health services.

This includes increasing health department's efficiencies of program operations, their readiness for health departments to apply and achieve accreditation by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB), a national program launching in September 2011 and building upon the national network of performance improvement managers by sharing and utilizing evidence-based policies and practices for improving the health system.

The money will be distributed through two of a five-year cooperative agreement program known as the National Public Health Improvement Initiative (NPHII) Strengthening Public Health Infrastructure for Improved Health Outcomes:

"A strong, efficient, effective public health system is critical for building a healthy society," said CDC Director, Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. "Investing preventative services, system improvement and policy level interventions in an atmosphere of accountability is essential to reducing the burden of health care costs in the future."

Navajo Division of Health, Acting Division Director, Roz Begay, is pleased to receive the second grant. "We will continue building and strengthening Navajo Division of Health's public health infrastructure by implementing key strategic activities towards achieving our goal to become accredited as a Tribal Public Health Department through the Public Health Accreditation Board".

"These investments propel public health toward a new era of productivity and effectiveness," said Dr. Judith A. Monroe, CDC's Deputy Director for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support. "We will be supporting health departments in strengthening systems that are critical for detecting and responding to unexpected disease outbreaks or other threats to the public's health."

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