title: Assuring a strong foundation for our nation's public health systems.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A strong public health infrastructure is necessary to assure that every community is capable of carrying out core public health functions (assessment of population health, assurance of accessible and equitable health resources, and development of policies to address population health) to create healthy conditions. Yet, due to budget cuts and inconsistent approaches to base funding, communities are losing critical prevention and health promotion services and staff that deliver them.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This article describes key components of and current threats to our public health infrastructure and suggests actions necessary to strengthen public health systems and improve population health.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  National nursing and public health organizations have a duty to advocate for policies supporting strong prevention systems, which are crucial for well-functioning health care systems and are fundamental goals of the nursing profession.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We propose strengthening alliances between nursing organizations and public health systems to assure that promises of a reformed health system are achieved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosocial and Community Health, University of Washington School of Nursing, Seattle, WA. Electronic address: bettybek@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Betty
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bekemeier
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Nursing, Madison, WI.
authors.forename: Susan J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Zahner
authors.affiliation: University of Virginia, School of Nursing, Charlottesville, VA.
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kulbok
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Informatics at Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Merrill
authors.affiliation: Department of Community-Public Health, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD.
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kub
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; D011635:Public Health Administration; D014481:United States
keywords: Affordable Care Act; Prevention systems; Public health policy; Public health systems