The Public Health Field A Need For Inter Agency Cooperation

The public health field requires a lot of planning and coordination between different public health organizations. Partnerships are an important part of the public health planning because it identifies and recruits partners, which share the same core values, duties and constituencies as the partner organization. The representatives from each organization can be from community governance and public health services from all levels of government. To be able to respond to the needs of the general public, especially during emergency preparedness and response there is a need for inter-agency cooperation. The planning is done in advance and is vital to the overall outcome during such events. Another purpose for public health partnerships is†¦show more content†¦Partnerships help to cut down on cost directly and indirectly to maximize all available resources and recruit new talent. The partnerships cut down on organizations duplication of their individual efforts and enhanced the visibility and messaging. It can be viewed as a type of Cobranding and provides better ways to reach the intended audience. They work together to improve the health status and the publics’ health. However, with any partnership there can be some conflicts of interest to arise. There is no autonomy so the choices made affect both parties. As well it can get to the point where resources can be depleted to maintain the partnership. Risk taking is not realistic in partnerships and both parties must plan responsibly. To have a great partnership there must be a mutual understanding of all resources available to them. There must be some level of trust which is built over time through team building. It is imperative for the success of the partnership to have clear short term and long term goals. Each partner should have a clear understanding of the shared mission and goals with defined roles and responsibilities. All data collected should be used purposely for assessments, planning, implementation, and evaluation purposes. There are four types of partnerships, networking, coordinating, cooperating, and collaborating. In the networking partnership there is an exchange of ideas and