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Website Review and Summary Essay Infant Mortality Infant mortality is a serious matter when it concerns the life of an infant. Many individuals and families have had to face the death of a child in one way or another. Infant mortality can cause devastating implications for all those involved. The awareness of assistance offered from local, state and national government agencies are available for those who have experience the death of an infant. One way to provide information would be to understand what public and community health is all about. Public and Community health is important and researching related websites can benefit those who are interested. This paper will address and compare how local, state and national government websites address specific information regarding infant mortality. In addition, information will be explored specifically related to whether or not the information found in the websites overlap, what type of structure is identified between the levels of government, what functions are seen at each level of government, and how the levels of government work together specifically regarding infant mortality. Defining Public and Community Health. First of all, public health deals with promoting health through the communication and organizational efforts to assist health care providers, the public, the communities and individuals. (Kleinfelder, 2013). To be honest, for the most part, people refer to public health simply as â€Å"free†, meaning a place to go when they need state and federally funded vaccinations, influenza and pneumonia shots, wellness prevention, and tuberculine screening for health care workers to mention a few. As far as community health, this addresses issues through education, research on diseases, injury prevention and the promotion of healthy lifestyles. How  does the information overlap? When researching for the sole purpose of obtaining information specifically related to infant mortality, many websites are reviewed. The information identified did at times overlap such as the percentages of infant deaths at the local and state levels as opposed to the United States percentage of infant deaths, meaning the percentages were typically the same. In addition, the top rated causes of infant deaths from one website to the next were similar such as sudden infant death syndrome, premature births, very low birth weights and birth defects. Types of structure and function identified between levels of government. Each level of the government whether local, state or national, has their own processes and procedures to handle concerns affecting the people. The structure at the state level governs over the city, or local counties. When an issue arises that local and state levels cannot handle, national levels will assist to resolve those issues. The purpose of understanding the structures among the government levels is not only to figure out how to identify, analyze, plan and implement resolutions to health concerns, such as infant mortality, it is also important understand the funding for health care and other needs of the people. In the eyes of the people it must prove its legitimacy to remain in office. According to Beitsch LM, Brooks, Grigg Menachemi, (2006), â€Å"A strong infrastructure is required to perform public health services and to protect the public from environmental toxins, influenza, chronic diseases, and unacceptable rates of infant mortality. State health agencies must be able to provide the core functions of public health, assessment, policy development, and assurance across the domains of health protection and health promotion activities.† The local and state agency’s focus on decreasing infant death. To accomplish this, the government provides funding to enable state-based programs the ability to perform surveillance to gather information that would enable a decline in maternal and infant mortality. The purpose of the information gathered is used to develop the health programs associated with infant mortality or other health related issues. In addition, the ability to identify infant mortality risks rests on the shoulders of local and state agencies. These agencies use of pregnancy risk assessment monitoring systems data to complete this task. On  a national level, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will work with state agencies to develop a national strategy for addressing all health related issues. (Riegelman, 2010). How do the levels of government work together? All agencies work in a collaborative effort to improve women’s health prior to pregnancy, promote quality prenatal care, strengthening surveillance and research, including prevention and overall health promotion. According to Beitsch, Brooks, Grigg Menachemi, (2006). â€Å"The goals of these agencies communicate with the main objective to improve access to quality pre-conception, peri-conception, and prenatal health care across racial/ethnic and geographical divides, and to provide the best available care to mothers and infants.† Conclusion In all reality, despite the efforts of all levels of government health agencies, the probability of the concerns surrounding infant mortality will continue simply due to the ignorance and negligence of the American public to simple choose not to do the right thing. All levels of government, whether local, state or national, infant mortality is a health concern to be reckoned with. We, as a community, have an obligation to understand that educating ourselves through research and reviewing websites for knowledge is key to resolve all public and community health concerns on all levels. The paper did explore information related to websites address the type of structure between the levels of government, what functions are seen at each level of government, and how the levels of government work together specifically regarding infant mortality. The ability to promote educational programs to prevent a death of an infant is a necessity to ensure lifelong happiness. References Beitsch LM, Brooks RG, Grigg M, Menachemi N. Structure and Functions of State Public Health Agencies. American Journal of Public Health. 2006; 96(1):167-172. Doi:10.2105/AJPH.2004.053439. Kleinfelder, J., (2013). What is the difference between community health and public health? Retrieved from http://wwwresearchgate./post/What_is_the_diffe†¦ Riegelman, R. K. (2010). Public health 101: Healthy people—healthy populations. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.