Lack of public health professionals alarming
Hannah Alexander
Issue date: 3/14/08 Section: News
"With fewer resources, it makes it harder for any community to prepare for natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina," Andrulis said.
Currently, the Drexel SPH is working with the Philadelphia Health Department to establish more health departments in the area. According to Gold, Drexel SPH students have the opportunity to work in a variety of projects within the Philadelphia Health Department. Also, faculty members from the SPH meet regularly with staff from the Philadelphia Health Department.
"They look for mutual grant opportunities to bring new funds into our city for health issues," Gold said. "We believe that academia can partner with government to create better conditions in which all people can live."
Andrulis added, "Right now there is simply not enough training and education to meet broad based and societal needs."
According to the ASPH website, schools of public health across the United States will need to triple their number of graduates in the next 12 years "in order to avert the crisis."
David Scher, a freshman and nursing major, said he does not think the need for more public health workers can be met by the schools of public health in the United States.
"At the rate America is growing, my guess is that the demand will not be met and the U.S. is going to have to find health professionals from overseas," Scher said.
According to Spencer, populations of communities in the United States continue to grow, but the public health workforce has diminished. In the second study by the ASPH in 2000, there were 50,000 fewer public health workers in total in the United States, than in the 1980 study.
"The bottom line is that this will cause the health of the American people to suffer," Spencer said. "We need to make the current workforce grow and expand capacity."
In response to the public health crisis, the ASPH is calling for an increased federal investment in public health education.
"I like to think of public health infrastructure in the United States as akin to a system of levees," Gold said. "Right now, nationally, America's levees are overall broken."
Currently, the Drexel SPH is working with the Philadelphia Health Department to establish more health departments in the area. According to Gold, Drexel SPH students have the opportunity to work in a variety of projects within the Philadelphia Health Department. Also, faculty members from the SPH meet regularly with staff from the Philadelphia Health Department.
"They look for mutual grant opportunities to bring new funds into our city for health issues," Gold said. "We believe that academia can partner with government to create better conditions in which all people can live."
Andrulis added, "Right now there is simply not enough training and education to meet broad based and societal needs."
According to the ASPH website, schools of public health across the United States will need to triple their number of graduates in the next 12 years "in order to avert the crisis."
David Scher, a freshman and nursing major, said he does not think the need for more public health workers can be met by the schools of public health in the United States.
"At the rate America is growing, my guess is that the demand will not be met and the U.S. is going to have to find health professionals from overseas," Scher said.
According to Spencer, populations of communities in the United States continue to grow, but the public health workforce has diminished. In the second study by the ASPH in 2000, there were 50,000 fewer public health workers in total in the United States, than in the 1980 study.
"The bottom line is that this will cause the health of the American people to suffer," Spencer said. "We need to make the current workforce grow and expand capacity."
In response to the public health crisis, the ASPH is calling for an increased federal investment in public health education.
"I like to think of public health infrastructure in the United States as akin to a system of levees," Gold said. "Right now, nationally, America's levees are overall broken."
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