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Local Public Health In Financial Crises: Common Decision Drivers For Changes In Services Due To Economic Downturn, Gulzar H. Shah

Health Policy and Management Faculty Presentations

We measured the impact of the 2008-2010 economic recession on local health departments (LHDs) across the United States. Between 2008 and 2010, we conducted 3 Web-based, cross-sectional surveys of a nationally representative sample of LHDs to assess cuts to budgets, workforce, and programs. By early 2010, more than half of the LHDs (53%) were experiencing cuts to their core funding. In excess of 23 000 LHDs jobs were lost in 2008-2009. All programmatic areas were affected by cuts, and more than half of protecting the health of the public, such as monitoring health status to identify and solve community health …