Public health interventions have been credited with adding 25 years to life expectancy in the 20th century, yet only 3 percent of health spending in the U.S. is dedicated toward these initiatives, write Karen DeSalvo, MD, and Jeffrey Levi, PhD, for Health Affairs Blog.
That 3 percent is divvied up unequally, and local public health spending creates more disparities across the population.
To bridge these gaps, Drs. DeSalvo and Levi suggest a "public health 3.0" model, which they say will change how the government invests in and approaches public health. The model takes a more strategic, community-centric approach to public health to drive collective action, they write.
"It … assure[s] that every community in America is creating the partnerships across sectors — public and private, health and non-health — that will restore value to our health system and make us a healthier, more economically strong nation," they add.
Here are four principles they suggest government officials use to guide public health investment.
1. Public health should be a shared investment responsibility between the federal, state and local governments, similar to Medicaid.
2. Federal funding for public health improvements is necessary to meet basic community goals.
3. The government should provide states with more flexibility in the grants it allocates for public health.
4. To empower Americans, public health initiatives should take a narrow focus and emphasize smaller, localized communities.