Public Health Madison & Dane County

Public Health has been transforming rapidly over the past 30 years. In the late 19th century and most of the 20th century in the era of "Public Health 1.0," our focus was on infectious disease prevention and control. In the second half of the 20th century in the era of "Public Health 2.0," a focus on the rising burden of chronic diseases was added, recognizing the success in reducing rates of death and disease from infectious disease and the emergence of chronic diseases as the primary causes of death.

Now, in the era of "Public Health 3.0," the focus of public health has been enhanced with local agencies like ours asked to take on the role of Community Chief Health Strategist--collaborating with stakeholders who can help us positively affect root causes of poor health outcomes.

While we stay focused on the important work of prevention and treatment through direct service programs such as immunizations, home nurse visiting, and restaurant inspections, we are also looking much further upstream to affect long-term change and reducing health inequity that affects so many in our community.

The Community Initiatives section of our website gives examples of how we do this by using data and community collaborations to support community partners, policies, and programs that improve health and address and prevent health inequities.