Public Health Builds Partnerships
Public health prevents disease and promotes health by creating environments, policies, and systems that support wellness for everyone, such as access to healthy food, physical activity, immunizations, safe water and clean air.
There is much that can be done to create and maintain healthy communities in Oregon. Communities that support people in making healthy choices help prevent chronic diseases and the complications that can result from them. Public health works with a variety of partners to create healthy communities including transportation planners, city planners and land use experts because the environments where we live, work, play, learn and connect with services influence our physical and mental health.
Collaborative Efforts
Place Matters: Working together to create healthy communities: Public health professionals from around the Pacific Northwest met in November of 2012, in Portland, Oregon to share ideas and collaborate on the best ways to make our communities healthy for everyone.
Oregon's Healthy Communities Program is working with local public health authorities, federally recognized tribes, community-based organizations and community leaders to create healthy communities statewide. These groups are collaborating to activate and spread policy, systems, and environmental changes that encourage people to be more physically active, eat a healthy diet, and not use tobacco. These population-based change strategies are an effective approach to improving community health by reducing chronic disease associated with these adverse activities.