Monday, November 8, 2010

Healthy People 2020: Just what we’ve been waiting for

APHA Annual Meeting-goers got an inside look at the soon-to-be-released Healthy People 2020 today, and boy-oh-boy was it cool.

With more than 580 health objectives and 42 topic areas (including new ones like LGBT health, genomics and preparedness), we’re predicting this will be the hot new resource for public heath workers when it launches Dec. 2.

Instead of the old dead-tree format of the resource (which frankly, weighed more than a phone book), Healthy People 2020 will exist online in electronic form — meaning that updates can be made as needs arise. And it will take into account new population categories, such as people in prison and veterans. All in all, it’s just what many folks in public health have been waiting for.

“Healthy People is well on its way,” said Penelope Slade-Sawyer, deputy assistant secretary for health, disease prevention and health promotion at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “I’m excited about it. I hope you are excited about it.”

Yep, Penelope, we sure are.

— M.L.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I understand there will be an online searchable database for evidence-based actions/programs to use for objectives. What might it look like - something like the one at SAMHSA http://nrepp.samhsa.gov?