The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Session: Infrastructure Development: Environmental Health Tracking
4187.0: Tuesday, November 12, 2002: 2:30 PM-4:00 PM
Oral
Infrastructure Development: Environmental Health Tracking
After several years of steady determination, the Nationwide Health Tracking Network, proposed by the Pew Environmental Health Commission in 1999, has become a reality. In early December, Congress appropriated almost $30 million to begin its development and implementation. Experts, from all over the United States, have come together in a series of working groups to advise the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the best way to proceed. This session will walk briefly through the history and purpose of the health tracking initiative by: including a legislative update; discussing how existing national and statewide surveillance systems for health outcomes & environmental exposures will be coordinated and integrated into the new network; describing the $12 million health tracking & biomonitoring project at the World Trade Center site; reviewing the CDC Request for Proposals for demonstration projects and reporting on some innovative projects that have been funded to begin this new initiative; and finally, discussing how this health tracking network will be useful at a community level with a case study from an affected community.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to: (1) gain a general overview of the history and purpose of the Nationwide Health Tracking Network, proposed by the Pew Environmental Health Commission in 1999; (2) understand how existing national and statewide surveillance systems for health outcomes & environmental exposures will be coordinated and integrated into the new network; (3) become aware of innovative projects that have been funded to begin this new initiative; and (4) discuss how this health tracking network will be useful at a community level.
See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement and author's information.
Panelist(s):Frank Bove, ScD
Leslie Tucker
Janet Quartles, MD
Linda Lanier
Organizer(s):Rebecca A Head, PhD, DABT
Tunde Akinmoladun, PHD
Moderator(s):Susan West Marmagas, MPH
2:30 PMCoordination of State and Federal Surveillance Systems for Environmental Health Tracking
Leslie Tucker
2:45 PMDisease Cluster Tracking and Making a Case for Nationwide Health Tracking
Frank Bove, ScD
3:00 PMInnovative Pilot Projects to Demonstrate the Effectiveness of the Environmental Health Tracking Network
Judith R. Qualters, PhD
3:15 PMBringing it Back to the Community: How Health Tracking is Applied at the Community Level
Linda Lanier
3:30 PMWithdrawn -- Tracking the Health of Relief Workers at Ground Zero
Laura Rasar King, MPH, CHES
Organized by:Environment
CE Credits:CME, Environmental Health, Health Education (CHES), Nursing, Pharmacy, Social Work

The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA