Environmental Public Health Tracking: Insights from a collaborative public health surveillance system development project

Environmental Public Health Tracking (Tracking) is the ongoing collection, integration, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of data from environmental hazard monitoring, human exposure, and health effects surveillance. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is currently leading the initiative to build a National Tracking Network which will integrate data from these three components into a network of standardized electronic data that will provide valid scientific information on environmental exposures and adverse health conditions as well as the possible spatial and temporal relations between them. In September 2002, the Tracking Program began to fund state and local partners to begin the process of developing the National Tracking Network. In the years since, the Tracking Program has continued to expand the number of these partnerships and the Tracking Network officially launched in 2009. The speaker will present an overview of the Tracking Program including its mission, vision, and goals. The presentation will detail the approaches, benefits, and lessons-learned while managing the development of a standards-based public health surveillance system in a collaborative environment. Additionally, the presenter will describe the components and content of the Tracking Network that will allow Tracking Network to facilitate the linkage of environmental information to health outcomes. Finally, the presentation will address various next steps and challenges that have been identified by the described activities and projects.