Healthy People 2020
Theresa Morrow testified on behalf of Woman Against Prostate Cancer at the DC area Healthy People Stakeholders Meeting in Bethesda, MD and a Regional Meeting of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2020 in Arlington, VA in May. The testimony reinforced the importance of prostate cancer screenings and funding to promote education of the disease. Click here to read the testimony in its entirety.
Call To Action!
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is now developing the Objectives and Framework for Healthy People 2020 (HP 2020). The Healthy People initiative affects every part of the health care community: awareness activities, prevention, and treatment.
You can contribute to the Healthy People 2020 objectives by submitting your comments at: www.healthypeople.gov.
What is Healthy People 2020?
Every 10 years, the Healthy People initiative sets and monitors national health objectives to meet a broad range of health needs, encourage collaboration across sectors, help people make informed health decisions, and measure the impact of our prevention activity.
Healthy People 2020 will evaluate major risks to health and wellness, changing public health concerns, and new promising technologies related to our nation's health preparedness and prevention. By employing scientific discoveries and lessons learned from the past decade, along with new knowledge of current data, trends, and innovations, Healthy People provides science-based national objectives for promoting health and preventing disease.
Healthy People is a broad-based, public engagement initiative with thousands of citizens helping to shape its purpose, goals, organization, and action plans. DHHS seeks input from communities and stakeholders across the nation through public meetings across the country and public comment periods.
In addition, HP2020 draws on the expertise of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2020. Healthy People will provide a framework to address risk factors and determinants of health and the diseases and disorders that are affecting our communities.
Read the executive summary of the National Opinion Research Center assessment of the HP 2020 objective-setting framework and process here (PDF).
Timing
Healthy People 2020 will be released in two phases. The framework (the vision, mission, goals, focus areas, and criteria for selecting and prioritizing objectives) will be released in late 2008 - early 2009. A year later, in January 2010, the Healthy People 2020 objectives will be released along with guidance for achieving the new 10-year targets.
