According to the HHS website, “Healthy People provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for promoting health and preventing disease. Since 1979, Healthy People has set and monitored national health objectives to meet a broad range of health needs, encourage collaborations across sectors, guide individuals toward making informed health decisions, and measure the impact of our prevention activity.” The last national objectives in these areas were part of Healthy People 2010.
The idea is pretty simple. The HHS looks at data and evidence that has been recorded over the last decade along with any advances in any health areas and changes the objectives for the next ten years based on what the information they have gathered tells them. As the website states, “Healthy People 2020 will reflect assessments of major risks to health and wellness, changing public health priorities, and emerging issues related to our nation's health preparedness and prevention.”
Healthy People encourages participation by citizens from all sectors of life, so that the objectives accurately reflect what people are dealing with on a daily basis. Again, the website puts it best:
Since its inception, Healthy People has become a broad-based, public engagement initiative with thousands of citizens helping to shape it at every step along the way. Drawing on the expertise of a Secretary's Advisory Committee on National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2020, public input and a Federal Interagency Workgroup, Healthy People will provide a framework to address risk factors and determinants of health and the diseases and disorders that affect our communities.With that said, here is how the public can participate in shaping this document. By clicking here you can become a subscriber to the Healthy People listserv. Additionally, there are public meetings that all are free to attend where you can submit comments on the Healthy People framework. To find out where and when the public meetings will take place you can click here. Seating is limited at the meetings, so pre-registration is encouraged. Or, if you just want to submit a comment online, you can click here. But before you do all that, if you would like to see the document draft, click here.
Posted: 11/06/09
