About the directorate
This Directorate incorporates public health, emergency planning and community resilience, environmental health and trading standards.
We are responsible improving and protecting the health and wellbeing of the local community. A key area of focus is reducing inequalities in health between different groups of people and communities.
We work with local people, communities, other parts of the council and other many partners and in a variety of ways. These include:
- Providing an advisory role assisting organisations who plan and provide health care to understand the health needs of the local population and plan services to meet those needs
- Commissioning services to improve the health of the population and reduce health inequalities using the public health ringfenced grant
- Protecting individuals and communities from infectious diseases and environmental hazards
- Making sure that the borough is as prepared as possible for possible emergencies which might impact on people's health
- Lead the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and production of the Director of Public Health Annual Report setting out the health and of the population
- Supporting and developing the local economy by promoting and supporting local businesses and removing illicit goods and businesses from the marketplace
- Building safer communities by tackling bogus callers and sale of alcohol to minors
- Protecting vulnerable residents from financial abuse and scamming
- Inspecting all food premises in the borough to ensure food safety compliance
- Ensuring air quality in the borough is maintained and improved
About the director, Mayada Abu Affan
Mayada started as an acting Director of Public Health and Wellbeing for Dudley Council in March 2022. She is passionate about addressing the root causes of ill-health, reducing the inequality gap and achieving sustainable solutions via innovation.
Mayada started her medical career in obstetrics and gynaecology working in a deprived area in Merseyside. She became convinced that public health is the most powerful way to improve health and achieve a bigger impact on population wellbeing and on having effective and responsive health services.
She completed the public health higher specialist training programme in Scotland in 2006. Mayada has spent most of her public health career in Dudley, working for Dudley PCT as a Public Health consultant. This was followed by a move to Dudley Council with a diverse portfolio across children, adults, older adults, clinical governance, demand management and commissioning support.
In 2018 Mayada was seconded to Health Innovation Advisory, an American consultancy company, to work as the in-country director leading on re-designing Dubai Community and dental health services and setting up health innovation centre for Dubai Health Authority.