Healthy People 2000 Review 1997

The 6th in a series of profiles tracking the Year 2000 objectives for American health promotion & disease prevention. This report presents a national prevention strategy for significantly improving the health of the American people. It identifies 3 broad goals & 319 objectives. The goals focus on increasing the span of healthy life, reducing health disparities, & achieving access to preventive services for everyone. The objectives are organized into 22 priority areas. For each of these, one or more U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) agencies are designated to coordinate activities directed toward attaining the objectives. 45 charts & tables.

During Spring 1998, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) contracted with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Institute of Medicine (IOM) to conduct a multi phase project resulting in the development of sets of leading health indicators that would provide a 'face' for Healthy People 2010. Of equal or greater importance was the development of indicator sets that would attract and sustain public attention and motivation to engage in healthy behaviors. Development of such leading health indicators sets is intended to move the United States toward achievement of more positive health outcomes for the general population and for select population groups defined by race, ethnicity, gender, age, socio-economic status, level of education, and disability. This second interim report presents a summary of the efforts of the IOM Committee on Leading Health Indicators for Healthy People 2010 to develop sample sets of leading health indicators that would meet the requisite functions of attracting and sustaining attention and motivating engagement in healthier behaviors by the public. Reactions to this report and more specifically, to the potential leading health indicator sets and suggested measures, will be solicited from the public health community as well as representatives of diverse consumer audiences through electronic communication, regional public meetings convened by DHHS, focus group discussions with target populations, and other information-gathering techniques. Review of information from these various sources will be summarized in a third and final report for DHHS to be published in April 1999. The third report will also include the committee's final recommendations regarding the functions to be fulfilled by leading health indicators, will define specific criteria underlying the selection of leading health indicators, and will identify specific sets of leading health indicators to be promoted and monitored during the decade 2000 to 2010.

"Healthy People" is the nation's agenda for health promotion and disease prevention. The concept, first established in 1979 in a report prepared by the Office of the Surgeon General, has since been revised on a regular basis, and the fourth iteration, known as "Healthy People 2010," will take the nation into the 21st century. "Leading Health Indicators for Healthy People 2010: Final Report" contains a number of recommendations and suggestions for the Department of Health and Human Services that address issues relevant to the composition of leading health indicator sets, data collection, data analysis, effective dissemination strategies, health disparities, and application of the indicators across multiple jurisdictional levels.