Fortunately for most public health professionals engaged in community health assessment, there is no need to seek all-new data in order to assess a community's public health. Most community health assessments start with available data. Great care must be taken when aggregating or comparing data sources because many challenges may arise. For example, a public health program to reduce adolescent smoking may be seeking data on local asthma rates, but the only asthma rates available may be for younger children. As a public health professional, it is essential for you to become familiar with data sources, and to evaluate data for their relevancy to the population and public health problems being assessed.

For this Discussion, review data sources included in the Resources and current literature. Then, research multiple quantitative data sources (e.g., census or local, state, and national public health agencies) that could be used for your Scholar-Practitioner Project community health assessment.

With these thoughts in mind:

Brief description of two quantitative data sources you might use to develop your community health profile for your community health assessment. Explain why these data sources are relevant. Finally, describe two challenges you might face in collecting these data sources and explain why.