Environmental health services at the local level need to enhance their role in disease prevention. Environmental health has become fragmented and in some instances disconnected from public health. There has been an emphasis on process rather than outcome. The image of environmental health practitioners as inspectors needs to be changed. It is important they become prevention specialists and educators. The National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) is developing a problem solving methodology that can assist environmental health practitioners and environmental health programs in prevention activities. Historically, outbreak investigations have included environmental inspections and identified risk factors. By identifying the precursors to the identified risk factors, it may be possible to intervene before the risk factors are established. The systems approach to problem solving and the identification of the environmental antecedents to disease will be reviewed. A case study using this approach will be reviewed. The case study demonstrates how the problem solving methodology can be used in a practical way at the local level.
Learning Objectives: 1. Learn about a problem solving methodology to identify environmental antecedents to disease. 2. Learn the importance of outcome to environmental health.
Keywords: Environmental Health, Local Public Health Agencies
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