 Volume 14: Issue 4,2000 |
Healthy People 2010 on the Web: http://www.health.gov/healthypeople/default.htm When Healthy People
2000 was published nearly 10 years ago, no one could have predicted the
influence the Internet would have on the next generation of health
objectives for the Nation. Healthy People 2000 was
conceived, developed, published, and distributed as a print document. Its
successor, Healthy People 2010, has lived and will continue to live
parallel lives in print and
cyberspace. To begin developing
health objectives for the new decade, the Healthy People Consortium met in
New York City in November 1996 to consider the lessons learned from
Healthy People 2000 and to discuss how to apply them to Healthy People
2010. The Healthy People
Consortium is a group of some 650 national professional and voluntary
membership organizations, the business community, and State and local
public health agencies. In the months One major
recommendation from these focus groups and the 1996 Consortium meeting
involved using new information and communications technologies
to make Healthy People 2010 widely available. Five months later, the
HHS Secretary’s Council on National Health Promotion and Disease
Prevention endorsed the Consortium’s suggestions and recommended making
Healthy People 2010 an interactive document that would be available on the
Internet as well as in print. On September 15, 1997,
the proposed framework for Healthy People 2010 and an updated list of
Healthy People 2000 objectives were posted on the Healthy People Web site.
During the 3-month public comment period that followed, people could voice
an opinion electronically or in writing. When the responses were
tallied, some 700 comments had been received. Nearly 75 percent arrived
electronically. The experience proved that the Internet could serve as an
interactive source of information about Healthy People 2010. The public comments on
the framework and objectives were used by work groups in preparing the
initial draft of Healthy People 2010. In addition, largely because of the
public comments, new work groups were created to prepare objectives
dealing specifically with arthritis, osteoporosis, and chronic back
conditions; disability and secondary conditions; health communication; and
respiratory diseases. The first complete
draft of Healthy People 2010, consisting of 704 pages in its printed form,
was posted on the Web for public comment on September 15, 1998, a year to
the day from the opening of the first public comment period. Over the next 3 months,
more than 11,000 comments arrived electronically and in writing from
people in every State in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the District
of Columbia. Six public hearings across the country provided an
opportunity for people to offer their comments and suggestions in person. Transcripts of the
public hearings, together with all of the public comments on Healthy
People 2010, are posted on the Healthy People Web site. The comments are
searchable by key word—type in whatever subject (e.g., diabetes), and
the relevant comments will be sorted for your use. By using other search
options, including user name, organization, city, State, and ZIP Code, you
may be able to find new partners for your own community health improvement
action. As with the first set
of public comments, the work groups used these public comments in
preparing Healthy People 2010. The public comments on the draft also
prompted the addition of two new focus areas, one on chronic kidney
disease and the other on vision and hearing. All Healthy People
materials will remain on the Web. Many will be word searchable, making
these materials available to anyone with Internet access. Return to Prevention Report Index Go to Focus | Leading Health Indicators | How do I get involved |
