Healthy People 2010

History

In 1979, the landmark report Healthy People: The Surgeon General's Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention provided Americans with the first set of national public health goals that focused on reducing premature deaths and preserving independence for the aging population. Following the 1979 Surgeon General's report, Promoting Health/Preventing Disease: Objectives for the Nation was released in 1980. That report identified 226 health objective goals for the nation to achieve during that decade. The Department of Health and Human Services has created a new set of goals and public health priorities every decade since then. Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives was released in 1990, and the current Healthy People 2010: Healthy People in Healthy Communities was released in 2000.

To help coordinate public health activates at the national, state, and local levels, Healthy People 2010 provides a comprehensive portrait of the nation's health in 2000, sets national goals for 2010, and releases a midcourse review to monitor progress. By bridging the link between community and individual health, the report solidifies the notion of collective action for both community and individual health improvement. Healthy People 2010 also creates an agenda for program funding, prioritizes research, and provides guidance for new regulatory efforts carried out by the various agencies under the Department of Health and Human Services.

Goals

As our nation's demographic profile shifts to an older and more diverse population, so do our health priorities. The two overarching goals of Healthy People 2010 are poised to address our changing demographics.

The first goal, to increase quality and years of healthy life, attempts to tackle our aging population; the second goal, to eliminate health disparities, aims at closing the health chasm that exists between various ethnic and racial groups.

Focus Areas