Public Health – STRATEGY 1

Develop and maintain an ethnically and culturally diverse public health workforce of both genders with competence and expertise in physical activity and health.

TACTICS

• Invest equitably in physical activity, commensurate with its value in promoting health and preventing and reducing chronic disease. Provide resources in state and local health agencies and programs for physical activity comparable to resources provided for tobacco and nutrition.
• Encourage the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state health departments to provide sustainable funding for state and local health departments so that Physical Activity and Public Health Specialists can create and implement initiatives that promote physical activity.
• Create a physical activity and health unit in state health departments that functions as part of an integrated and coordinated approach to chronic disease prevention. Staff these units with physical activity practitioners who are specialists in physical activity and public health.
• Encourage professional societies in public health to adopt and disseminate core competencies for public health practitioners in physical activity, update the core competencies regularly, and increase the number of professionals who are certified Physical Activity and Public Health specialists.
• Support and expand training opportunities (e.g., Physical Activity and Public Health Course) based on core competencies for practitioners and paraprofessionals. Ensure interdisciplinary training such that physical activity and public health concepts are connected to other disciplines and also include leadership development and team-building. Augment the entry of physical activity professionals by engaging ethnic minority and disability organizations in public health, medicine, and related disciplines.
• Enhance academic programs with physical activity practitioner core competencies embedded into public health and other disciplines (e.g., health care) curricula.
• Increase the number of Master’s of Public Health (MPH) programs that provide training on physical activity and its promotion. Increase the number of graduates from these programs.
• Encourage CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to invest in capacity building by supporting MPH and PhD programs, continuing medical education, short courses, and distance-based training for physical activity and public health through the Prevention Research Centers (PRCs) and other mechanisms.
• Expand recruitment, outreach, and training efforts (e.g., through scholarship programs sponsored by professional societies) to engage ethnic minority students, students with disabilities, and students representing groups at particular risk of physical inactivity.
• Encourage national and state public health associations to form physical activity sections within their organizations.

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