WASHINGTON – The Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday awarded $40 million in grants to public health departments across the country to help them strengthen their performance, efficiency and infrastructure, including health IT systems. The grants are also aimed at creating jobs.

"These funds will help health departments around the country maximize the impact of the essential services they provide every day, and build the public health workforce to ensure we're ready to meet the public health challenges of tomorrow," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "Strengthening our nation's public health system is critical to protecting the health of all Americans."

The grants will fund key state and local public health programs supported through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Most of these grant funds come from the Prevention and Public Health Fund created by the Affordable Care Act. Additional HRSA money supplements this investment.

This is the second year of CDC's five-year program known as the National Public Health Improvement Initiative (NPHII) Strengthening Public Health Infrastructure for Improved Health Outcomes grant program. More than 100 people have already been hired through the NPHII, and an additional 116 positions could be filled through the new awards.

The NPHII funding allows health departments to improve the delivery and impact of the public health services they provide by improving how they track the performance of their programs; fostering the identification, dissemination and adoption of public health's best and most promising practices; building a network of performance improvement managers across the country that share strategies for improving the public health system; and maximizing cohesion across states' and communities' public health systems to ensure seamless and coordinated services for residents.

"A strong, efficient, and effective public health system is critical for building a healthy society," said CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, MD. "Investing in preventive services, system improvement and comprehensive interventions is essential to reducing the burden of healthcare costs in the future."

The grants will also support 10 Public Health Training Centers at accredited schools of public health and other public or nonprofit institutions, bringing the total number of Public Health Training Centers to 37 nationwide.

HRSA's Public Health Training Center (PHTC) Program provides workforce education and training in areas such as environmental health, public health leadership, nutrition, and cultural competency. This expanded national educational network will provide highly skilled training to nearly 500,000 public health and related healthcare practitioners. Frieden said.

"In a challenging economy, public health training and education are vital in our efforts to ensure access to affordable, high-quality healthcare," said Mary K. Wakefield, HRSA administrator. "These grants provide learning opportunities that enhance technical, scientific, managerial, and leadership skills of public health workers, and help build a strong, well-rounded public health workforce for the future."