The Latest Research, Commentary, And News From Health Affairs
Thursday, March 25, 2021
Dear John,
Public health funding affects which communities are able to respond to COVID-19 and other complex public health threats. However, funding for public health has not increased in over a decade.
Negative Trends In Public Health Spending Leading Up To COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the vulnerabilities among state and local public health systems. Disparities in public health funding contribute to some of the variation in health outcomes and limit the ability of agencies to coordinate with each other to address complex health threats like a pandemic.
They observed flat or downward trends for total state public health spending and for spending in each of the categories of public health activities, except for an increase in spending for injury prevention. Maternal, child, and family health saw the largest drop in spending of all the categories.
The authors point out, “This stagnation in public health spending occurred despite a 4.3 percent annual average rise in national health care expenditures for disease care and overall annual average economic growth of 3.3 percent during the same period.”
Check out our COVID-19 Resource Center for free content about the pandemic, including journal articles, blog posts, podcasts, and an event.
In their new Health Affairs Blog post, Katie Sellers and coauthors discuss the revised 10 Essential Public Health Services framework, which now includes a focus on health equity and an updated emphasis on the importance of public health in light of COVID-19. In a new GrantWatch blog post, M.
Gabriela Alcalde and Barbara Leonard discuss a culture shift that has occurred within philanthropy in Maine, where funders are deepening their commitment to, and capacity for, racial equity. Alcalde and Leonard share
the experiences of their health and well-being foundations on the journey toward racial equity.
Elevating Voices In Women’s History Month:
Health economist Sherry Glied shared her views on why value-based care isn’t transforming health spending in a recent Health Affairs podcast episode. Glied is dean and professor of public service at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
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Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewedjournalat the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Published monthly
by Project HOPE, the journal is available in print and online. Late-breaking content is also found through healthaffairs.org, Health Affairs Today, and Health Affairs Sunday Update.
Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has published Health Affairs since 1981.
