Madison County Community Health Assessment
» 2009 Community Health Assessment (MAPP Project)
» 2005 Community Health Assessment
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's):
- What is a Community Health Assessment?
- How Will the Assessment be Accomplished?
- What is the MAPP Process?
- Why Participate?
- What will be the Final Results
What is a Community Health Assessment?
Community Health Assessment is a regulatory requirement and a fundamental tool of public health practice . It is the ongoing process of regular and systematic collection, assembly, analysis, and distribution of information on the health needs of the community. Its aim is to describe the health of the community, by presenting information on health status, community health needs, resources, and epidemiological and other studies of current local health
problems.
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How Will the Assessment be Accomplished?
Madison County Health Department (MCDOH) will facilitate this assessment through the Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) process. This is a community-wide strategic planning tool for improving community health developed by National Association for County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) in partnership with CDC. This tool helps communities prioritize public health issues and identify resources for addressing them.
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What is the MAPP Process?
The MAPP Process evaluates four components of the community that provide critical insights into challenges and opportunities. Community members and key local individuals and agencies are invited to participate in assessing one or
more of these areas:
- Community Themes & Strengths Assessment provides a deep understanding of the issues residents feel are important by answering the questions “What is important to our community?” “How is quality of life
perceived in our community?” and “What assets do we have that can be used to improve community health?” - Local Public Health System Assessment (LPHSA) is a comprehensive assessment of all of the entities that contribute to the public’s health. The LPHSA answers the questions “What are the activities, competencies, and capacities of our local public health system?” and “How are the Essential Services being provided to our community?”
- Community Health Status Assessment identifies priority issues related to community health and quality of life. Questions answered during the phase include “How healthy are our residents?” and “What does the health status of our community look like?”
- Forces off Change Assessment focuses on the identification of forces such as legislation, technology, and other issues that affects the context in which the community and its public health system operates. This answers the questions “What is occurring or might occur that affects the health of our community or the local public health system?” and “What specific threats or opportunities are generated by these occurrences?”
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Why Participate?
Broad community participation is essential to this process because a wide range of organizations and individuals contribute to the public’s health. Public, private, and voluntary organizations join community members and informal associations in the provision of local public health services. The MAPP process brings these diverse interests together to collaboratively determine the most effective way to conduct public health activities.
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Final Results:
As a result of this collaborative effort, data can be compiled into a meaningful resource that identifies locally important public health issues and can be used to plan for future public health services
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