Our examination of the national capacity for tracking indicates a patchwork of agency efforts with divergent mandates, a declining state and local infrastructure, and a need to expand communities' right to know about environmental health risks. This paper will discuss the diverging paths of public health and environmental protection over the past thirty years, the exclusion of public health leadership from environmental decision-making, and the resulting obfuscation of public health responsibilities in environmental health. It will describe the current national infrastructure for tracking environmental hazards, exposures, and population health, the scope of current surveillance systems, and their strengths and limitations. Finally, the paper will present a framework for an integrated approach to environmental health surveillance along with recommendations for strengthening the public health leadership, infrastructure, and capacity to track and respond to environmental hazards, exposures and health outcomes.
Learning Objectives: N/A
Keywords: Environmental Health, Surveillance
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.