From the desk of the County Manager
 
Happy Population Health Week! The Durham County Department of Public (DCoDPH) Health is recognizing the work of the Population Health Division and its impact on the Durham community, August 4-8.
 
What is population health? The definition we use is from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, “Health outcomes of a group of individuals including the distribution of such outcomes within the group made of three main components- health outcomes, health determinants and policies.”
 
What does this look like in practice? For example, we can look at the Durham County diabetes rate which is approximately 10%. That may seem low, but when we dig deeper into the data, we see there are higher diabetes rates among Durham County population groups by race and ethnicity, income and education levels. What are the root causes of those differences? What can be done to address those root causes?
 
Coordinated Population Health internal functions such as quality improvement, workforce development and data analysis alongside external ones such as the Community Health Assessment and community engagement, advance public health and improve community well-being. Population Health uses data and centers community to tailor policies and initiatives to ensure that all Durham County residents have what they need to be healthy.
 
You may be familiar with some of the work of the Population Health Division, highlighted over the past week on the DCoDPH Facebook page.
 

• Data is vital in giving us an accurate picture of Durham County’s health and driving decisions to best address differences in health outcomes. To view reports, infographics and StoryMaps about health and history, housing, redlining and environmental justice, the top Durham County health priorities and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, visit Durham County | Health Reporting and Durham County | Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
• The county-wide health coalition, Partnership for a Healthy Durham, brings together community members and organizations to address the top health priorities identified by Durham County residents. Twenty-one years strong, the coalition has a long history of success in partnering with the community to develop solutions around health issues. To learn more or to join the Partnership, visit www.healthydurham.org.
• Every three years, the Durham County Department of Public Health, the Partnership for a Healthy Durham, and Duke Health collaborate to analyze and report on data collected. This final document, which contains the top Durham County health priorities, is called the Community Health Assessment (CHA). The recently completed 2026 CHA survey collected over 2000 surveys from Durham residents! This has more than tripled the number of surveys collected in any of the past CHA cycles and enables us to incorporate community input into our Community Health Improvement Plans (CHIPs).
• Being an accredited public health agency means that we are prioritizing meeting these important standards that help us to provide quality services to our community.  Durham County Department of Public Health was most recently reaccredited with honors in May 2023. This means we reached the highest standards set by the North Carolina Local Health Department Accreditation. Quality Improvement (QI) ensures that we are not just maintaining services, but constantly working to make them better, smarter, and more responsive to the community we serve.

 
Together, these efforts support the DCoDPH mission to promote and protect the health of all Durham County residents and do it with excellence.
 
As the first ever Population Health week wraps up, we reflect on causes for all of us to celebrate such as a dedicated Public Health staff, engaged community members, active community partners, and support from across the County enterprise to ensure Durham County residents have what they need to obtain their best health.

Until next week,

Claudia Hager | County Manager