About Us

The Florida Department of Health in Broward County (DOH-Broward) is one of 67 county health departments under the governance of the Florida Department of Health (Department). Although DOH-Broward is a state agency, it maintains a very strong partnership with Broward County Government, which is formalized in a core contract.

The main administrative campus is in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with additional facilities in geographically accessible locations. DOH-Broward is responsible for protecting, promoting, and improving the health of the county’s 1.9 million residents and over 14 million annual visitors.

Although DOH-Broward was founded in 1936, the current organizational structure dates to 1996 when the Legislature created the Department of Health and the Department of Children and Families from the former Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services.

DOH-Broward leads the local public health system in providing the Ten Essential Services of Public Health. The local public health system encompasses a complex series of relationships between all of the entities that affect the health of the community. These include: health care providers, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, educational institutions, community-based organizations, faith-based institutions, philanthropic organizations, mental health agencies, first responders, and many others.

The mission of the DOH-Broward is "to protect, promote and improve the health of all the people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts." The vision is "to be the healthiest state in the nation."

DOH-Broward currently employs a staff of approximately 560 and has an annual budget in excess of $67.5 million. DOH-Broward works with its partners to make Broward County a healthy place to live, work, and play.

In order to best achieve its mission and vision, DOH-Broward is organized into a number of program areas that focus on the surveillance, prevention, detection, and treatment of the most significant health and environmental issues within the county. The major services provided by DOH-Broward include:

Dental Services | Family Planning | Florida Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program | Immunizations | Medical Records Management | Pharmacy | Refugee Health | School Health | WIC

Community Coalitions | Community Health Planning | Data and Statistics | Healthy Start | Outreach Planning Group-Speakers and Community Events | Volunteer Services

Cities Readiness Initiative | Hurricanes

Biomedical Waste | Body Piercing | Drinking Water | Food Safety and Sanitation | Group Care | Healthy Beaches | Indoor Air | Lead | Mobile Home/RV Parks | Onsite Sewage Disposal | Pools and Spas | Rabies Surveillance | Broward County Health and Sanitary Control Board | Well Surveillance | Tanning | Water Well Construction | Sanitary Nuisance | Tattooing

Epidemiology and Disease Control | Hepatitis | HIV/AIDS | Rabies Prophylaxis | Sexually Transmitted Disease | Tuberculosis

Drowning Prevention | KidCare Outreach | Tobacco Prevention 

A wide variety of professional and paraprofessional public health staff provide services within the program areas. These include physicians, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, nutritionists, epidemiologists, dentists, pharmacists, health educators, disease intervention specialists, sanitarians, and various other disciplines.

DOH-Broward services are funded through a combination of federal, state and local funding sources. Local funding sources include: local grants, fees and Broward County Board of County Commissioners funding.

Public Health Outcomes

At the national level, public health goals are guided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Healthy People 2030. The state of Florida Priorities for improving public health are addressed through a variety of plans including the Florida Department of Health’s Long Range Program Plan, the State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP), and the Agency Strategic Plan 2016-2021-agencystrategicplan-final.pdf (floridahealth.gov).

The Broward County Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP)  aligns with the State Plans and the Florida Department of Health in Broward County Strategic Plan and Florida Department of Health in Broward County Workforce Development Plan.

Other reports about Community Health in Broward County