The Alabama Department of Public Health is the primary state health agency of the government of the U.S. state of Alabama. It provides a number of public health services to Alabama residents. Chronically underfunded for decades, even by a health professional as governor (Bentley), it ranks near the bottom among states.
In 1907, the state established a public health laboratory to ensure the quality of drinking water and milk. In 1910 it created a Hookworm Commission. The commission was mostly funded by the Rockefeller Fund. In 1918, Alabama ranked eleven amongst the twelve Southern states in funding of public health. In 2021, USNews ranks Alabama's public health 45th out of 50 states and DC.
Around 2010, the Bureau of Clinical Laboratories moved to Prattville.
"The Alabama State Board of Health was constituted by Code of Ala. 1975, §2221, and is charged with the responsibility for safeguarding the public health through enforcement of the public health laws of the State of Alabama..." "The Medical Association of the State of Alabama is the State Board of Health. The State Board of Health and its administrative arm, the Department of Public Health, have central offices located in the state’s capital city, Montgomery, Alabama." "The terms State Board of Health, State Committee of Public Health, State Department of Public Health, and State Health Officer are used interchangeably except where the context prohibits."
"The Board functions through the State Committee of Public Health as constituted by Code of Ala. 1975, §2224, which is composed of 12 members of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama and the chairman of each of four councils provided for by statute. The 16 members function under the leadership of a chairman and a vice chairman elected by the membership for a term of four years."
"The State Committee of Public Health meets monthly. Agendas are available to any interested persons not less than seven days in advance of the meeting, if available, in accordance with the Alabama Open Meetings Act.
