The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is inviting us to submit our comments and suggestions as part of the collaborative process for Healthy People 2020. Every 10 years, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) leverages scientific insights and lessons learned from the past decade, along with knowledge of new and emerging issues, data, trends, and innovations to set the nation’s health priorities.
- If you care about your community’s health, our waters and our forests, then you can submit public comments to the current draft objectives on the Healthy People Public Comment Page.
- If you care about nutrition, obesity and physical activity, then you can submit public comments to the current draft objectives on the Healthy People Public Comment Page.
- If you care about chronic diseases, including prevention, treatment and cures, submit public comments to the current draft objectives on the Healthy People Public Comment Page.
- If you care about these and many other issues, then you can make a difference by submitting a comment to the Healthy People 2020 objectives.
Submit a Public Comment
Your participation will shape Healthy People 2020 and the nation’s health agenda. Since public comments go on the record, you will have contributed to setting our nation’s health objectives.
- Submit a public comment to the current draft objectives on the Healthy People Public Comment Page.
- Grab a Web badge to show you care about the Healthy People 2020 process.
Stay Involved and Informed
For more information and to stay updated:
- Subscribe to the Healthy People listserv for the latest information on Healthy People 2020 and to receive e-mail notices of related news, events, publications, and more!
- Join the Healthy People Consortium to become an active supporter of Healthy People.
More About Healthy People
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 Healthy People process aims to be inclusive and its strength is directly tied to collaboration.
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 the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2020, public input and a Federal Interagency Workgroup, Healthy People 2020 will provide a framework to address risk factors and determinants of health and the diseases and conditions that affect our communities–and in effect move us toward a healthier nation.
Disclosure: ODPHP is a client that I work with at IQ Solutions. However, I genuinely feel that Healthy People 2020 plays an important role in setting our Nation’s health agenda and even contributed comments myself, especially when it comes to chronic diseases and health communications.
Today, on SocialBttrfly‘s Twitter feed, womenshealth tweeted the following statistic:
“Hookah smoke has as much or
more nicotine and tar as
many filtered cigarettes.”
Hookah has recently been in the news due to health warnings concerning hookah users and their vulnerability to contracting herpes. A March 18, 2008 article from Colorado State University describes an incident where two students are believed to have contracted oral herpes from hookah activities due to the swapping of saliva that occurs.
However, other health effects are possible. Until I received the above tweet, I was unaware on the dangers of hookah. I have personally never done hookah nor really care to, but I know it is an increasing trend on many college campuses. A March 5, 2008 article in The Daily Orange describes this trend more:
“The sociality of hookah is also evidenced on a national level, with hookah bars beginning to open up in major cities as it becomes a trendy activity among teenagers and 20-somethings. “
Apparently, I am not the only one who is less informed about the health consequences of Hookah. According to a study conducted by the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH), 79% of hookah smokers believe the flavored tobacco is safer than cigarettes. Type ‘hookah’ in Google news and evidence that the topic is increasing its prominence on the public agenda appears ten-fold.
So my next thought was: Are there any social marketing initiatives or PSAs that currently address this issue?
The only PSA I could find was this one on Youtube. The source I have yet to identify.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYMnlrS78_k&hl=en]
If you know of more hookah PSAs or social marketing campaigns, please let me know.
For more information on the effects of smoking Hookah, visit CDC’s online factsheet or Womenshealth.gov’s informational description for more information.
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Yes, I did say this issue was brought to me in a tweet on Twitter by womenshealth, as in womenshealth.gov. For more information regarding the use of Twitter by non-profits, causes and government agencies, Nedra Weinreich of the social marketing blog, Spare Change, wrote an incredible post on this topic that I know you’ll find helpful.
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