The Oregon Legislature's $5 million public health modernization investment lets counties share staff resources to better prepare for and address communicable disease threats, according to a report cited by KTVZ.
The investment was made in 2017, and $3.9 million of it funded communicable disease control efforts at eight regions of local public health departments. The investment also is improving health equity work, such as identifying populations that are disproportionately affected by infectious diseases.
The Oregon Health Authority's public health division used the remaining $1.1 million in legislative funds to improve population health data collection and reporting, including enhancements to a database that follows immunization rates.
"In the first six months of the Oregon Legislature's modernization investment, we have seen important changes in how we deal with communicable diseases on a regional level," said Lillian Shirley, Oregon public health division director. "We know that these diseases don't stop at the county line during an outbreak, and neither should we when we're working to prevent and fight them."
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