Competencies

In February 2000, environmental health experts from 13 national environmental/health organizations came together in Washington, D.C. to begin the work of defining non-technical core competencies for local level environmental health practitioners. The American Public Health Association's Public Health Innovations Project convened the meeting with funding from the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The expert panel included environmental health practitioners, academicians, and scientists from organizations and agencies, such as the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA), the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), the Association of State & Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH), the Pew Environmental Health Commission, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the American Academy of Sanitarians (AAS), the National Association of Local Boards of Health (NALBOH), as well as others. Fourteen core competencies resulted from that work. The competencies are grouped into the three primary functions of an environmental health program—assessment, management and communication. To see a complete list of the competencies, click the link below:

Recommendations for Non-Technical Core Competencies for Local Environmental Health Practitioners