National Prevention Strategy

The National Prevention Strategy which is the product of the National Prevention Council is about 122 pages in length.  It is a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) which aims to create a Healthy Fit Nation.  It is a plan for Better Health and Wellness.  The chair person is the US Surgeon General and one of the members of the council is the ever popular Robert Gates.

Though I have begun reading it in full after viewing the pages most relevant to me, I do not plan to bore you with a long overview when I am done.

I do want to tell you a few things about it and if you want to get the full document you can. I think that the section that discusses the key indicators  is one of the better parts.  It shows you the issue, the baseline measure, where the data on the issue is found (what method they use to get the rate of cancer, for incidence), the current number or marker for that issue, where they want to take that number and the length of time in which they hope to do it. The NPS is a 20 year strategy but they have ten year targets.  The indicator list with the baseline and target info begins on page 52 of the document which you can explore here.

The council members include the heads of all the big federal departments.  Naturally it includes Health and Human Services, but also Office of Management and Budget, Depts. of Transportation, Homeland Security, Defense, Agriculture and more. 

The program has 4 Directions and 7 Priorities - it is a whole lot more than an obesity prevention document.  It incorporates all areas because all areas impact our health and wellbeing.  The main goal is to increase the number of Americans that are healthy at all life stages.  So the number of children, young adults, mid adults and older adults that are healthy right now could be anywhere from 75 - 95 % and the plan is for each one to increase a few percentage points in ten years.

The NPS focuses on five diseases/conditions which make up 66% of all deaths.  They are the leading causes of death in the USA:  Cancer, Coronary Heart Disease (heart disease in general is the number one cause of death, but this is specifically CHD), Stroke, Unintentional Injury, Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease (like COPD and asthma)

The four Directions are:

• Healthy and Safe Community Environments:
• Clinical and Community Preventive Services:
• Empowered People:
• Elimination of Health Disparities:

And the seven Priorities:

• Tobacco Free Living
• Preventing Drug Abuse and Excessive Alcohol Use
• Healthy Eating
• Active Living
• Injury and Violence Free Living
• Reproductive and Sexual Health
• Mental and Emotional Well-Being