STOP! Partner Group Launches Campaign to Stop Violence Against the Public Health Workforce

The STOP! Partner Group, a collaboration between the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and over 16 multidisciplinary partners representing public health, law enforcement, and government, recently announced a campaign to better support, protect, and assure the safety of the country’s public health workforce. The STOP! Campaigns aims to address ongoing workplace violence, harassment, and threats against public health agencies and professionals.

The campaign comes as a recent survey of local health departments (LHDs) in the U.S. identified at least 1,500 incidents of harassment and violence against public health workers in health departments nationwide between March 2020 and January 2021. The STOP! Partner Group urges the federal government to establish a national reporting system for incidents of violence against the public health workforce and provide legal protections for public health workers facing harassment and violence.

Various resources and information have been made available by the campaign. Additional information is available here.