Accredited Health Departments Demonstrate Capacity to Evolve, Improve, Advance Health in Community

Fairfax County Health Department announced today that it has successfully maintained its national accreditation status through the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). The national accreditation program sets standards against which the nation’s state, local, tribal, and territorial public health departments can continuously enhance the quality of their services and organizational performance.

In maintaining its accreditation status for another five years, the Fairfax County Health Department has reconfirmed that it meets PHAB’s standards and has the capacity to evolve, improve and advance the health of residents in the Fairfax Health District.

In addition, the Fairfax County Health Department demonstrated its ability to:

• Promote a culture of quality and performance improvement,
• Increase its capacity to respond to public health emergencies, and
• Encourage the use of equity as a lens to identify health priorities.

“We are pleased to be recognized again by PHAB for achieving national standards that foster effectiveness, promote continuous quality improvement and prioritize community engagement," said Dr. Gloria Addo-Ayensu, Director of Health with the Fairfax County Health Department. “We hope this announcement will reassure our community, partner organizations, funders and elected officials that the services we provide are responsive to meeting the complex needs of our community.”

The Fairfax County Health Department earned initial PHAB accreditation in 2016. In 2021, The Department began its reaccreditation journey with an agency-wide effort led by Lila Vizzard, Public Health Strategic Planner and Nicole Greer, Quality Improvement & Accreditation and a 60-member committee. With this latest achievement, the Health Department remains one of only 325 accredited local health departments out of nearly 3,500 nationwide.

“This designation validated our continued efforts to become a values-driven, high performing organization committed to protecting, promoting, and improving health for all in our community,” said Dr. Addo-Ayensu.

About the Fairfax County Health Department

The Fairfax County Health Department is the largest local public health department in Virginia, serving some 1.2 million residents from diverse ethnic, cultural, and economic backgrounds. Its mission is to protect, promote, and improve health and well-being for all in our community. The agency provides services at 13 locations throughout the county, serving the residents of Fairfax County, the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, and the towns of Herndon and Vienna. Learn more about Fairfax County Health Department online or by calling 703-246-2411, TTY 711.

About the Public Health Accreditation Board

The Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) was created to serve as the national public health accrediting body and is jointly funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Vital Records/Health Statistics accreditation is funded, in part, by the National Center for Health Statistics. The development of national public health department accreditation has involved, and is supported by, public health leaders and practitioners from the national, state, local, Tribal, and territorial levels. Learn more about PHAB and accreditation.