Faith-based and Public Health Partnerships: Reaching Vulnerable Populations
IHP, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Association for State and Health Territorial Officials (ASTHO), IHP has worked to develop a program to build and mobilize capacity within networks of faith-based and community organizations to demonstrate ways to expand reach to vulnerable, at-risk, and minority populations for prevention and treatment of influenza.
By building strong partnerships across a broad range of faith-based, private, and public health organizations, we are able to reach these populations for the prevention of seasonal and pandemic influenza.
Linking and activating these trusted community and faith-based networks makes it possible to engage a broader range of social structural factors that can impact cross-cutting, systemic barriers to health equity.
project objectives
- Objective #1: Identify and establish formal engagement with up to 10 diverse multi-sector sites in the U.S. for outreach to vulnerable populations for influenza prevention and treatment.
- Objective #2: Coordinate capacity building events, community outreach, and replication activities with partner organizations and existing and new sites.
- Objective #3: Strengthen evaluation methods that capture population reach achievements and best practice approaches for recommendations to guide replication and successful future outreach endeavors
project accomplishments
- Capacity built beyond and within the 10 site network
- Educated and vaccinated those with limited access
- Increased implementation of influenza vaccination behavior and attitudes survey
- Making public/private partnerships work for those in need
- “Measuring” community infrastructure (networks)
INTERFAITH HEALTH PARTNERSHIP NETWORK
Our network is comprised of unique multi-sector sites reaching out across diverse ethnicities and religious traditions. Click on the map below to learn more about the work done by each site.
Sites Map
The 2015 IHP-ASTHO-CDC conference was held May 28-29 at Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. Click on the links below to view the presentation from each site outlining their accomplishments, challenges, capacities, and opportunities from the past year.
MODEL PRACTICES TOOLKIT
IHP, in partnership with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), has published a resource guide and toolkit, Public Health and Faith Community Partnerships: Model Practices to Increase Influenza Prevention Among Hard-to-Reach Populations.
WEBINAR
Public Health Reaching out to the Faith Community: Why, How, and What Works
The purpose of this learning event is to showcase successful partnerships between local and state public health agencies and faith-based organizations and provide information about how to identify, initiate, and build partnership relationships with faith and community based organizations that extend the reach of public health efforts.