The one thing public health mission and vision statements have in common is that most public health organizations aligned their mission statement to define the purpose of their organization’s existence. For example, The American Public Health Association’s (APHA) mission statement (n.d.) reads as, “improve the health of the public and achieve equity in health status.” The vision’s statement for most of the public health organizations tends to focus on the mental image of the organization’s future. For example, The National Association of County and City Health Officials’ (NACCHO) vision statement reads as, “the national voice of local public health” (n.d.).
One of the findings and recommendations from future of the Public’s Health (PH) in the 21st century is the governmental role and involvement in public health missions. The article identified three core roles of public health agencies at all stages of government —to include assessment, policy development, and assurance (Institute of Medicine, 2002). Acting on the effective assessment of community, county and country allows for better analysis, collection and assembling of data; and to provide desired public health outcomes. Acting on the policy development means public health agencies should fully participate on promotion and advancement of public health policies. The policy development will serve the needs of the community as well as promoting scientific education, based on decision-making of public health policy implementation. The assurance strategy means public health services that are promised based upon goals provided, are either delivered or encouraged such as requiring mandate through regulations. It is also important to involve many community stakeholders in finding while ensuring public health priorities are achieved, either at the individual or communitywide level.
The implication of a situation where individuals in a public health organization don’t know its mission or vision will result in his inability to become an effective human capital developer. Human capital development is also an important leadership concept, in any public health organizations as we know. This is because without it, organizational success could be on the red line to failure. The full knowledge of the mission and vision statements are essential in making sure organization achieves its mission, vision and organizations goals.
Institute of Medicine. (2002). Executive Summary. In The future of the public’s health in the 21st century (pp. 1-18). Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=10548#toc.
The National Association of County and City Health Officials. (n.d.). NACCHO Strategic Plan 2007-2008. Retrieved from http://www.naccho.org/about/committees/upload/strategicplan2007-2008_final.pdf
The American Public Health Association. (n.d.). Our Mission. Retrieved from https://www.apha.org/about-apha/our-mission
