• Assurance of an adequate statutory base for health activities in the state;

• Establishment of statewide health objectives, delegating power to localities as appropriate and holding them accountable;

• Assurance of appropriate organized statewide effort to develop and maintain requisite personal, educational, and environmental health services; provision of access to necessary services; and solution of problems inimical to health;

• Guarantee of a minimum set of essential health services; and

• Support of local service capacity, especially when disparities in local ability to raise revenue and/or administer programs require subsidies, technical assistance, or direct action by the state to achieve adequate service levels.

The committee recommends the following as federal public health obligations:

• Support of knowledge development and dissemination through data gathering, research, and information exchange;

• Establishment of nationwide health objectives and priorities, and stimulation of debate on interstate and national public health issues;

• Provision of technical assistance to help states and localities determine their objectives and to carry out action on national and regional objectives;

• Provision of funds to states to strengthen state capacity for services, especially to achieve an adequate minimum capacity, and to achieve national objectives; and

• Assurance of actions and services that are in the public interest of the entire nation such as control of AIDS and similar communicable diseases, interstate environmental actions, and food and drug inspections.

The committee recommends the following functions for local public health units:

• Assessment, monitoring, and surveillance of local health problems and needs and of resources for dealing with them;

• Policy development and leadership that foster local involvement and a sense of ownership, that emphasize local needs, and that advocate