To secure the cooperation of medical organizations for the improvement of the public health.

To promote the information of the public in matters pertaining to the public health.

EXAMPLE OF NORTH CAROLINA

Another type of local health organization and of cooperation between local and state authorities for health protection and promotion has been developed in North Carolina, where 85 per cent of the population is rural.  Here the county has been taken as the unit of local organization.  Health conditions had been very bad in this state, hookworm disease, tuberculosis, malaria, and other diseases being prevalent.  The state board of health, assisted by the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission (see above, page 320, and references below), began an investigation and an educational campaign among the people, with the result that many of the counties of the state now have an organization for health cooperation unsurpassed, perhaps, in any other state.  Each county has a health department, which is controlled jointly by the state board of health and a county board of health.  The county board of health consists of the mayor of the county seat, the chairman of the board of county commissioners, the county superintendent of schools, and two physicians of the county elected by the other three members.  The work of the health department is directed by a county health officer, who is appointed by the state board of health of which he is also a member.  He has a staff of trained assistants.

In this plan note the cooperation between state and local communities, between town and county officials, and between the school authorities and the health organization.  Note, also, the leadership of specialists in health matters.

Topics for investigation: 

Organization of the department of health in your community (both county and town):  the board of health; the executive health officer or officers; the kinds of work done.

Amount of money spent by your local health department for all purposes and for each purpose separately.  Compare with the amounts spent for roads, for schools, and for other work of the local government.

The interest shown by the people in your community in public health matters.

Some of the more important health problems of your community.

The leadership in your community in health matters.

Cooperation between the state government and your local government in health matters.

The more important local and state laws relating to health in your community.

Organization of your state department of health.

Local health problems that need state control.

State health problems that need local cooperation.

The operation of the Food and Drugs Act in your community.

The work of the Public Health Service.

The extermination of yellow fever in the United States.