Alaska's public health system

The state public health agency is the Division of Public Health (DPH) within the Department of Health and Social Services. About 630 employees work at the Division of Public Health. The Section of Nursing supports 21 health centers, which serve more than 200 communities.

Alaska has two local health departments: the North Slope Borough and the Anchorage Municipal Health Department (approximately 190 employees in Anchorage). Some public health services, including personal health services, are provided by the Regional Native Health Corporations.

NWCPHP activities in Alaska

In Alaska, NWCPHP has been actively working with public health colleagues to design and implement specific training activities, assist in the development of a statewide workforce development strategy and support efforts to build greater capacity for public health education and training.

• Annual Alaska Public Health Training Institutes are held in Anchorage. At the institutes, NWCPHP faculty and Alaska public health professionals have presented 2.5-day courses in such topics as introductory epidemiology, intermediate epidemiology, and effective community outreach and collaboration.
• NWCPHP participates in planning and presenting at the annual 2.5-day Alaska Health Summit.
• NWCPHP staff provided iLinc Web Conferencing Technical Support and Training for state and local public health agencies, 2004-2005.
• NWCPHP developed and taught a Public Health Policy and Law course in 2004 to MPH students at the University of Alaska-Anchorage.
• NWCPHP is a strong partner in Alaska's preparedness and emergency response efforts. SPHCM Associate Dean Mark Oberle serves on the Alaska Division of Public Health's Bioterrorism Advisory Committee. The NWCPHP's Training and Outreach Coordinator is a member of Alaska's Education and Training Committee. A central activity of these groups during 2003-2004 was the development of a competency-based preparedness training plan for public health staff, hospital workers and first responders.
• From 2003-2004, funding from the NWCPHP's HRSA grant assisted the Division of Public Health (DPH) in offering a broad range of public health and emergency preparedness training to public health employees and their partners at over 64 training events attended by more than 537 trainees.
• Faculty from NWCPHP presented a day-long seminar on Public Health Policy and Law in December 2003 targeted to 35 Masters of Public Health students in the new program at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
• NWCPHP provided technical support on a workforce training needs assessment completed by University of Alaska and DPH staff in September 2003. This assessment focused on preparedness and emergency response skills, but also included assessment of general workforce skills and preferred learning formats.
• The Alaska Section of Nursing is currently using the NWCPHP iLinc Web conferencing system to conduct a series of trainings for new public health nurses.

Alaska contacts

Sandra Woods
Preparedness Training Coordinator
Public Health Nursing
Alaska Department of Health & Social Services

Kerre Fisher
Training & Exercise Officer
Alaska Department of Health & Social Services

NWCPHP also collaborates with University of Alaska Anchorage Division of Health Sciences to provide technical assistance and other education and training activities.

Alaska Health and Social Services

Alaska Public Health Home Page

Alaska Community Health and Emergency Medical Services

Alaska in brief

Alaska's total population is 635,000. Forty percent of Alaska's citizens live in Anchorage, a city of 261,000 people. Alaska's population density is very low—only 1.0 person/square mile. Over 50% of Alaska does not have roads connecting local villages and towns. The 2000 US Census classified 34.3% of Alaska's population as rural and 55.7% as non-urbanized. According to the 2000 US Census, 15.6% of Alaska's population is Alaska Native/American Indian.