OLHA - infrastructure

The Office of Local Health Administration

The Office of Local Health Administration (OLHA) is responsible for ensuring the delivery of public health services in all the towns in Connecticut (CT). OLHA works with the local health agencies to make sure state laws are followed and essential local public health services are being provided to everyone in the state. OLHA also supports towns, Boards of Health and the two tribal nations’ health departments.

OLHA’s responsibilities include:

• Facilitating the distribution of state and federal funding to local health agencies
• Collecting data from local health agencies each year
• Offering online training for new Directors of Health, Acting Directors of Health, and members of Health District Boards of Health
• Organizing meetings with the Commissioner and Department of Public Health programs to share important updates with local health agencies

Local public health in Connecticut (CT)

In CT, local public health services are provided by 59 local health agencies. These agencies can be either town health departments or regional health districts. Each agency works on its own and is managed by local town leaders or a board of health.

Local health agencies must follow state and local health laws. The state public health laws are found in the Connecticut General Statutes and the Connecticut Regulations of State Agencies.

Local health agencies must also offer a basic health program. These services can be provided by the agency itself or with help from other groups. To learn more about the services your local health agency provides go to Find my local health agency and click on the link to your local health agency's website.

In addition to the 59 local health agencies, there are two (2) tribal nations that provide public health services on their tribal lands.

59 Local health agencies

View our state map or lookup table to find your local health agency or to download the contact information for all local health agencies in CT.

20 Health Districts

> CT’s health districts serve 2 to 20 towns and are led by full-time Directors of Health.

> 49% of CT’s population and 130 of the 169 towns are in health districts.

> Learn about the benefits of health districts

35 Full-time town health departments

> Individual towns with a population of 40,000 or more must have a full-time local health department led by a full-time Director of Health.

> Full-time town local health departments serve 50% of CT’s population.

4 Part-time town health departments

1% of CT's population is served by a part-time town local health department, which is led by a part-time Director of Health.