Discussion
This week, you will discuss “What are YOU going to do about it.”  In the past weeks, you have examined and explored the challenges and issues facing delivery of public health services in a given community and across the nation. The goal of public health is to prevent disease and promote health.

To that end, take a moment to review your own community’s health needs through a purview of current events, your own setting by informally interviewing public health professionals, or reviewing national databases like the ones listed below:

America’s Health Rankings. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.americashealthrankings.org/
The Commonwealth Fund. (2015). Overall Ranking, 2014. Retrieved from http://datacenter.commonwealthfund.org/#ind=1/sc=1

For this discussion, you are asked to do the following:

1. Describe a significant health issue in your community or state.
2. Compare its significance to the national priorities of Healthy People 2020 goals (is it a national priority or just one found in your state/community).
3. Explain what type of effort it will take to fully address it (leadership skills, financing, organizational buy-in, stakeholders, perceptions, barriers)
4. Evaluate the efforts YOU can take to address this issue. (As a public health practitioner, what is YOUR role such as: Will you develop, lead or be part of a public health program to address the issue? Will you work on financing, organizational buy-in, stakeholders…what are you going to do to address this concern?)