641—77.3 (137) Roles and responsibilities of local boards of health. Public health is responsible for safeguarding the community’s health. This goal is pursued through three core functions: assessment, policy development and assurance.
	 77.3(1) Assessment: regularly and systematically collect, assemble, analyze, and make available information on the health of the community, including statistics on health status, community health needs, personal health services, and epidemiologic and other studies of health problems. Assessment includes the essential public health services that:
	  a.   	 Monitor health status to identify community health problems,
	  b.   	 Diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards in the community, and
	  c.   	 Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based health services.
	 77.3(2) Policy development: exercise its responsibility to serve the public interest in the development of comprehensive public health policies. This can be accomplished by promoting use of a scientific knowledge base in decision making about public health and by taking the lead in public health policy development. Policy development includes the essential public health services that:
	  a.   	 Develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts,
	  b.   	 Enforce laws and regulations that protect and ensure safety, and
	  c.   	 Research new insights and innovative solutions to health problems.
	 77.3(3) Assurance: assure their constituents that services necessary to achieve agreed-upon goals are provided either by encouraging actions by other entities (private or public sector), by requiring such action through regulation, or by providing services directly. Each local board must involve key policymakers and the general public in determining a set of high-priority personal and communitywide health services. Assurance includes the essential public health services that:
	  a.   	 Link people to needed personal health services and provide such personal and environmental health services as deemed necessary,
	  b.   	 Ensure the competence of public health and personal health care workforce,
	  c.   	 Inform, educate, and empower people about health issues, and
	  d.   	 Mobilize community partnerships to identify and solve health problems.