About Harris County Public Health (HCPH)

Throughout the years, HCPH has responded to public health issues such as rabies, mosquito-borne illnesses, air and water pollution, disease outbreaks, water and food-borne illnesses, natural disasters, tuberculosis, polio, and other communicable diseases. 

Public health is now battling new challenges. Each year brings new diseases, new chronic disease risks, and more natural and man-made disasters. Every new threat has been matched by a public health response. Public health forces must work together to fight each new threat or new epidemics will spread.

Harris County Public Health (HCPH) is the county health department for Harris County and provides comprehensive health services and programs to the community through a workforce of approximately 700 public health professionals – all dedicated to improving the health and well-being of Harris County residents and the communities in which they live, learn, work, worship, and play. The HCPH jurisdiction included approximately 2.3 million people and over 30 other municipalities located in Harris County (not including the city of Houston). 

For certain public health services, such as mosquito control, Ryan White/Part A HIV funding, and refugee health screening, the HCPH jurisdiction encompasses the entirety of the county, including the city of Houston, thus providing services to 4.7 million people in total. For its efforts, HCPH was named the 2016 Local Health Department of the year by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). The Practice of Public Health The Practice of Public Health