Start your engines...

What happens every April, lasts for a week, and is good for you and your community's health? National Public Health Week, of course!

And as we remind you just about every year on this very blog, it's never too early to start planning. Next year's National Public Health Week observance, which will run April 7–13, 2014, has a theme of "Public Health: Start Here" and is focused on helping Americans navigate the changing world of public health. As the new National Public Health Week brochure notes: "The public health system that keeps our communities healthy and safe is changing as technologies advance, public attitudes toward health shift, and more health and safety options become available. Public health professionals are the guides to this system, helping our communities navigate the many choices along the way to achieving and maintaining health."

To help guide your friends, neighbors and communities through our always-evolving public health system, next year's National Public Health Week celebration will be broken into five daily themes. Day one focuses on staying healthy at home, day two on disaster preparedness, day three on prevention, day four on eating healthy, and day five on the most promising public health practices for becoming the healthiest nation in one generation. On each day, public health practitioners, supporters and advocates are encouraged to use the daily theme to illustrate the role of the public health system in helping people and communities achieve each goal.

To learn more about next year's public health celebration and download a brochure, visit www.nphw.org or stop by the National Public Health Week booth, #1285, at the Public Health Expo. Also, follow National Public Health Week on Twitter, @NPHW, for updates. And if you're looking for celebration ideas, check out nationwide coverage of the 2013 National Public Health Week observance in The Nation's Health newspaper. 

Let's make next year's National Public Health Week celebration the biggest yet! On your mark, get set, start!

— K.K.