Draining the Swamp: The Local Governance of Mosquito Borne Diseases in Florida

Abstract

Public health capacity can be placed in local public health departments or alternative bureaucracies. Provision of local services through special district (SD) governments has been widely studied in local politics. What have not been examined are the implications of SD governance for the provision of public health services. Public health services are often categorically different from other types of local government services because they address problems affecting the entire local population. Siloing public health governance may influence not only agency capacity to carry out tasks, but the effectiveness and equity of public health solutions. We examine SD governance of local mosquito control in Florida, to analyze differences in policy-design and implementation between SDs and non-SDs across counties. SDs are primarily located in wealthy districts, have substantially greater resources, and provided over limited, sub-county, service-areas. Jurisdictions outside of SD service-provision often have no local mosquito control governance, relying on intergovernmental services.

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