The American Public Health Association (APHA) is a Washington, D.C.-based professional membership and advocacy organization for public health professionals in the United States. APHA is the largest professional organization of public health professionals in the United States and host the largest gathering of public health professionals in the world at their annual meeting and exhibition.
History
In 1872, American Public Health Association was founded by a group of physicians, including Dr. Stephen Smith and Dr. Henry Hartshorne. APHA has been involved in every major significant public health program of the last 150 years. A list of major milestones can be found on their website, completed in celebration of their 150th anniversary.
Description
APHA has more than 25,000 members worldwide. The association defines itself as an organization that: "champions the health of all people and all communities. We strengthen the public health profession. We speak out for public health issues and policies backed by science. We are the only organization that combines a 150-plus year perspective, a broad-based member community and the ability to influence federal policy to improve the public's health." It defines its mission as: "Improve the health of the public and achieve equity in health status."
The organization is divided into sections, special interest groups, affiliates, forums, and caucuses. Sections are the primary organizing units in APHA composed of individuals with shared interest in topics, practice areas, or conditions. Affiliates are state-based public health associations. Forums are cross-organization bodies around an interdisciplinary health topic. Special interest groups are groups organizing themselves into a section. Caucuses are outside professional organizations that are organized around social issues or populations in official relation with APHA.
Governance
APHA is governed by a 24 member executive board, and led by an executive committee composed of a chair, vice-chair, president (elect and immediate), speaker, and treasurer. The legislative body of the organization is the governing council, which is composed of voting and non-voting members. Each part of the association is self-governed.
Membership
APHA has five types of membership: regular, retired, early-career professional, organizational, and student. Members receive an online subscription to the American Journal of Public Health and The Nation's Health as well as a weekly newsletter, Inside Public Health.
APHA awards
National APHA awards
The accomplishments of public health leaders are recognized through an awards program. APHA presents its national awards during its annual meeting. National APHA awards include: Sedgwick Memorial Medal APHA Award for Excellence David P. Rall Award for Advocacy Helen Rodríguez Trías Award Lyndon Haviland Public Health Mentoring Award Martha May Eliot Award Milton and Ruth Roemer Prize Victor W. Sidel and Barry S. Levy Award for Peace Ayman El-Mohandes Young Professional Public Health Innovation Award
Section awards
The Public Health Education and Health Promotion section recognizes individuals in six award categories. The awards include the Distinguished Career Award, Early Career Award, Mayhew Derryberry Award for contributions of behavioral scientists to health education, Mohan Sing Award for humor in health education, Sarah Mazelis Award for health education practitioners, and Rogers Award for public health communication.
The Statistics section offers the Mortimer Spiegelman Award to a statistician under the age of 40 for contribution to public health statistics.
Sponsored awards
Rema Lapouse Award – sponsored by the Mental Health, Epidemiology, and Statistics Sections, this award is granted to an outstanding scientist in the area of psychiatric epidemiology.
Publications
The American Public Health Association publishes more than 70 public health books. Several of these are the reference source for their specialty within public health practice. Some publication titles include: Control of Communicable Diseases Manual Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater Landesman's Public Health Management of Disasters: The Practice Guide Public Health Newswire Black Women’s Reproductive Health and Sexuality: A Holistic Public Health Approach Health Inequities and African Americans: A Comprehensive Examination
In addition, APHA publishes the American Journal of Public Health, a monthly peer-reviewed public health journal covering public health and policy. APHA also publishes The Nation's Health, a monthly newspaper covering public health news and APHA updates.