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Healthy People 2010 Needs Your Participation (Article 16)
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With just three and a half years to go in the federal government’s decade-long Healthy People 2010 initiative, your help is needed if the program is to reach its objectives. Progress has been made, yet there is still much more to accomplish.

Healthy People 2010 is managed by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Founded on data that enable progress and trends to be tracked, the initiative is the nation’s prevention agenda, providing a set of 10-year evidence-based health objectives for improving the health of all Americans by the year 2010. Its two overarching goals are to:

  • Increase the quality and years of healthy life
  • Eliminate health disparities

Healthy People 2010 serves as a model for state and international disease prevention and health promotion plans, and it covers 28 focus areas with 467 specific objectives.

Health care providers play a critical role in achieving more than 60 percent of these objectives—helping to improve patient outcomes related to diabetes management, obesity, prostate cancer screening, access to quality care, smoking cessation, immunizations and many other vital areas.

Ten Leading Health Indicators serve as a focus for prevention and performance. Among these indicators are behavioral and lifestyle factors, like tobacco use and obesity, which together cause almost half of all premature deaths in America. As a group, the Leading Health Indicators reflect the major health concerns in the United States at the beginning of the 21st century:
 
  • Physical activity
  • Overweight and obesity
  • Tobacco use
  • Substance abuse
  • Responsible sexual behavior
  • Behavioral health
  • Injury and violence
  • Environmental quality
  • Immunization
  • Access to health care

These indicators were selected on the basis of their ability to motivate action, the availability of data to measure progress and their importance as broad public health issues.

What Can You Do to Help?
Now more than ever, your help is needed in achieving the objectives of Healthy People 2010. Communicating the importance of these health care issues to both your staff and your patients is critical. You can support Healthy People 2010 and greatly impact the health and well-being of TRICARE beneficiaries by simply increasing the focus on education, awareness and prevention in your practice:
 
  • Understand the role that prevention, health promotion and community-based health programs have on the determinants of health.
  • Provide supportive health promotion and health education to help beneficiaries recognize the value of prevention and the importance of their active role in pursuing healthier lifestyles.
  • Encourage beneficiaries to receive preventive health services appropriate for their age and gender.
  • Identify and document culturally influenced patient-risk factors for your specific population.
  • Ensure staff has training in evidence-based methods to help beneficiaries adopt healthy behaviors.
  • Select among the national Healthy People 2010 objectives to build an agenda for community health improvement and monitor the results over time.
  • Monitor well-being initiatives that are established by the community and are based on population need.
  • Utilize national health observances (e.g., Great American Smokeout or American Heart Month) that align with Leading Health Indicators and focus areas that have been identified in your community.
  • Be aware of the Healthy People 2010 resources and refer to them to assist you in developing and implementing programs and interventions for your patients.
For more information on Healthy People 2010 or to become a Healthy People 2010 partner, visit the Healthy People 2010 Web site or call 1-800-367-4725.


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Last Reviewed:  February 2, 2007