Thursday, January 2, 2025
1/2/2025
Please see the attached "NH_Background_And_Overview_BP1" file for details. The population of New Hampshire (NH) is approximately 1,402,054 according to the United States (US) Census (the 2023 estimates). NH has increased its population by 6.5% from April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2023. The State of NH has 10 counties, 13 cities, 221 towns and 25 unincorporated places. The largest counties are in the southeast portion of the state in Hillsborough and Rockingham counties and the smallest are in the north, Coos County. The cities of Manchester and Nashua support the only local, full-service health departments in the state. These two cities are also the most diverse communities, census projections showing that 27.2% of Manchester residents and 27.0% of Nashua residents are members of racial or ethnic minority groups, compared to 11.7% statewide. The NH public health system is a centralized public health services models with the Division of Public Health Services (NH DPHS) delivering essential public health programs, such as monitoring health status, and diagnosing and investigating health problems statewide from its offices in Concord while other essential services, such as mobilizing community partnerships and informing and educating the public largely being done through an extensive network of local contractors. The NH public health services in the regional level, with establishing a strategic partnership, include 13 Regional Public Health Networks (RPHNs) that serve every community in the state to integrate multiple public health initiatives and services into a common network of community stakeholders. The DPHS is an operating unit within the NH Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), which delivers a wide range of human services, and Medicaid through its 11 district offices located throughout the state. The state and local infrastructure and partnerships have been effectively implemented during real incidents such as COVID-19, Mpox, Ebola, Legionnaire's Disease, Hepatitis A and other diseases readiness and response. There are app roximately 60 infectious diseases that are reportable to the NH DHHS. The most frequently reported infectious diseases are Chlamydia (2,780 in 2023) and Lyme disease (1,533 in 2023). In addition, enteric diseases (Salmonella, Campylobacter, Giardiasis, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, Listeria, etc.) also account for a significant proportion of infectious disease burden in New Hampshire as a group with more than 500 cases reported each year. Over the last five years, DHHS has responded to between 50 and 300 infectious disease outbreaks each year excluding COVID-19. In calendar year 2023, there were 16 influenza, 42 enteric/waterborne, 1 HAI, 14 others (RSV, unknown respiratory, and pneumonia), and 298 COVID-19 outbreaks. The 2019 Public Health Strategic Operational Plan identified five key operational areas with a main purpose of “strengthening the administrative and operational functions of the organization and improving Public Health’s capacity to protect, promote, and improve the health and well-being of all people in New Hampshire”. The 2019 Strategic Operational Plan was intended to guide NH DPHS as it strengthened operational capacity to carry out essential public health functions in accordance with Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) standards. Five strategic workgroups under the 2019 Strategic Operational Plan were established to develop Guiding Principle and Priorities on the key operational areas. The strategic workgroups then drafted Goals and Objectives for further implementation, focusing on assessment, action, policy, training and evaluation. Those five strategic workgroups align well with ELC Grant to strengthen epi and lab workforce capacity, improve public health informatics for better use of data and information, and enhance collaboration among multiple components of public health focusing on operations/planning and communication.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).