Strengthening nysdoh public health infrastructure, workforce and data systems - the new york state department of health (nysdoh) will use these grant resources to address long-standing weaknesses in…

Strengthening nysdoh public health infrastructure, workforce and data systems - the new york state department of health (nysdoh) will use these grant resources to address long-standing weaknesses in and new challenges to new york's (NY) public health infrastructure. Nysdoh will make strategic investments to repair and strengthen NY's public health workforce, foundational capabilities, and data infrastructure, with the goal of better serving new yorkers, especially communities that have been economically or socially marginalized, are located in rural geographic areas, are composed of people from racial and ethnic minority groups or are disproportionately affected by covid-19 or other public health problems. Specifically, nysdoh will: - create and fill new staff positions, augmenting nysdoh's preparedness capability, expanding environmental health and public health laboratory capacity, and improving the availability and use of workforce wellness opportunities; - strengthen the nysdoh regional office infrastructure, including new staff positions to expand community engagement activities; - strengthen relationships with local health departments (lhds) through direct provision of funding to lhds to hire or retain staff, collaborations with lhds to identify and deploy solutions to public health problems, fostering strong partnerships to address long-standing disparities across the state; - enhance and expand staff development, training and education opportunities for LHD and OPH staff through the establishment of a partnerships and training unit, with a focus on public health essentials, understanding and addressing root causes of health inequities, and community engagement to empower, support and transform communities; - establish a multidisciplinary health, wealth and well-being unit for the purpose exploring health and non-health data, identifying innovative solutions and empowering communities to address foundational causes of health inequities; - advance and align with the work of the data modernization initiative currently underway as part of the epidemiology and laboratory capacity grant. Anticipated outcomes over the five-year project period include increased hiring of diverse staff; improved organizational processes and systems; and progress toward a modern and efficient data infrastructure. These will lead in the longer-term to a larger, stronger and better equipped public health workforce, expanded and stronger capacity to address long-standing and emerging public health challenges, and increased availability and effective use of public health and other data to drive program, policy and other decision-making. Eventually, if sustained, this program of work will result in improved health outcomes including reductions in health disparities and inequities in new york.