Local Public Health

North Dakota's public health system is decentralized with 28 independent local public health units working in partnership with the North Dakota Department of Health. The 28 local public health units are organized into single or multi-county health districts, city/county health departments or city/county health districts. Seventy-five percent of the local health units serve single county, city or combined city/county jurisdictions, while the other 25 percent serve multi-county jurisdictions. The majority of the multi-county jurisdictions reside in the western part of the state. In this decentralized approach, the units are required to meet state standards and follow state laws and regulations, but they can exercise their own powers and have administrative authority to make decisions to meet their local needs.

North Dakota local public health units have a long history of providing personal and population based health services to residents in their city and/or county jurisdictions.  The local public health infrastructure represents the capacity and expertise necessary to carry out services and programs.  Therefore, the health units function differently and offer an array of services.  The most common activities and services provided by local public health are child immunizations, adult immunizations, tobacco use preventions, high blood pressure screening, injury prevention screening, blood lead screening and Early and Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment.

 

Local Public Health Units