Arkansas Department of Health

Services:

The ADH is a unified health department, with a main office in Little Rock and 94 local health units in each of the state’s 75 counties. We have Centers that oversee all that we do.

• The Center for Health Advancement has among its many branches Chronic Disease, Tobacco Prevention and Cessation, Family Health, Women, Infants and Children (WIC), and Oral Health.
• The Center for Health Protection has branches for Infectious Disease, Preparedness and Emergency Response, Health Systems and Injury Prevention.
• The Center for Local Public Health is at the heart of the department. Our local health units provide services to communities across the state. Our Hometown Health Improvement Initiative is a process that takes a close look at the issues in local communities. It is coordinated through our local health units in partnership with community stakeholders. Through this collaboration, health strategies are developed and implemented to improve these local health issues.
• The Center for Public Health Practice includes branches for Health Statistics and Epidemiology, our “disease detectives” who track the spread of communicable diseases like mumps, measles and chicken pox.

In addition, our Public Health Laboratory tests and reports on samples from all over the state – water samples, human samples for disease, even samples for rabies. This state-of-the-art laboratory is prepared for a pandemic flu or a bioterrorist event, as well.

Supporting the various service programs throughout ADH is Administration, which includes finance, human resources, information technology, legal, minority health, community support, health communication and marketing, tobacco prevention and cessation, policies and procedures and facilities support.

The mission of the Department is to protect and improve the health and well-being of all Arkansans. We do this with the support of more than 5,000 dedicated employees and public and private partners. All employees in our diverse workforce are expected to exemplify professionalism in everything they do. They are passionate about what they do, because they are making a difference by helping people make their lives healthier.