Healthy People 2010

Purpose

In its 25-plus-year history, Healthy People has served several interrelated purposes. First, it is a strategic plan for improving health presented [Page 598]through a comprehensive array of related health objectives that set measurable targets for health improvement efforts by all levels of government as well as the private sector and community healthcare agencies. Most states and many localities, along with nongovernmental agencies, have adopted the Healthy People objectives in their own plans and programs or have used these objectives as the underlying rationale for their efforts.

Second, it is a compendium of summary health statistics on the leading causes of death, illness, and disability arrayed by race/ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status, and for multiple time periods. Healthy People is one of the most frequently referenced data sources by health services researchers, policy analysts, planners, and health administrators in presenting baseline information on various health conditions.

Third, Healthy People establishes a framework for understanding the determinants of health placed within a broad systems context that recognizes that health is more than the presence or absence of medical care. The health of individuals and communities is determined by a variety of factors, including individual biology and behavior, the physical and social environment, broader policies and interventions that improve community health, along with access to quality healthcare services. Healthy People and this framework have been widely included in public health textbooks, graduate-level courses, and professional-education programs.

Fourth, Healthy People is a report card that can be used to gauge progress and establish performance standards and accountability for the vast American healthcare enterprise of public health and health services delivery. Its cradle-to-grave approach reports the state of the nation's health from infant mortality to the chronic conditions and causes of death most often associated with old age. At least two national reports issued by the federal government, one for 1990–2000 and the other after the year 2000, reported on progress of the nation in meeting the Healthy People objectives. Both reports scored the nation's efforts, noting both progress and deficiencies, and used the results to exhort policymakers in the public-health and medical-care arenas toward greater action. Myriad other reports have graded the effectiveness of state, local, and private-sector efforts against Healthy People targets.

Finally, Healthy People establishes, as national policy, efforts that improve population health by increasing quality and years of healthy life and eliminating health disparities, the two goals of Healthy People 2010. Indeed, Healthy People is as close as the United States has ever come to a national policy on health.

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