Public Health Advocacy Consensus Task Force (PH-ACT)

Problem

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for the public health workforce, at all levels, to be skilled at engaging with policymakers, the public, and the media to advance evidence-based policy solutions.  

Although all public health schools and programs are required to teach MPH students how to advocate for policy change as part of their accreditation requirements, evidence shows that public health professionals may still be underprepared to engage in advocacy.   

Recent studies show that nearly half of public health department executives desire more training on how to prioritize and influence policies that affect the health of communities. Additionally, less than a third of non-profits, many of which employ public health graduates, report conducting advocacy activities that could improve health policy outcomes. Those that do emphasize the importance of having someone on staff with advocacy knowledge and/or experience.  

A recent study analyzing current advocacy courses shows that public health schools and programs most often incorporate advocacy content into survey courses which limits the number and depth of advocacy skills and content covered. Further, fewer than half of advocacy courses taught provide skills or content instruction on topics such as coalition building, community organizing, media advocacy, policy communication, and lobbying – skills often used in policy change advocacy campaigns. Lastly, the article suggests that the field lacks consensus on the definition of public health advocacy and the essential skills needed by the workforce to operationalize it. This alone may be key to why our current advocacy instructional model is falling short of the outcomes we all desire. Working together, we can craft an improved Advocacy 2.0 instructional model and the guidance for schools and programs on how to best implement it. 

Advisory Committee

The PH-ACT Advisory Committee is comprised of experts from across the country who are skilled in advocacy teaching and/or the practice of improving public health policy at the federal, state, and local levels. 

• Elaine Auld
  Chief Executive Officer (retired), Society for Public Health Education
• Ron Bialek
  President, Public Health Foundation
• Brian Castrucci*
  President & Chief Executive Officer, de Beaumont Foundation
• Sandro Galea
  Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor, Boston University School of Public Health
• Sarah de Guia
  Chief Executive Officer, ChangeLab Solutions
• Perry Halkitis
  Dean, School of Public Health, Rutgers University-New Brunswick
• Leigh Haynes
  Director, Master of Public Health Program, Simmons University
• Shelley Hearne*
  Director, Lerner Center for Public Health Advocacy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• David Jernigan*
  Professor, Health Law, Policy & Management and Assistant Dean, Public Health Practice, Boston University School of Public Health
• Laura Rasar King
  Executive Director, Council on Education for Public Health
• Ellen MacKenzie
  Dean, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Keshia Pollack Porter*
  Bloomberg Centennial Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Susan Pollan
  Public Affairs and Advocacy Associate Executive Director, American Public Health Association

Title and affiliations for identification purposes only.
* Indicates joint services on the Steering Committee.