Healthy People 2020 is a USA national agenda that communicates a vision of improving the health of Americans concerning the Nation’s Health Goals. It was established in 1979 by the United States Department of Health and Human Services to develop mechanisms for increasing quality of life and bringing awareness and understanding. Its framework covers over 1200 objectives relating to key public health areas (Comprehensive laboratory services survey summary data report, 2016). Primary goals are set every decade to work out effective plans on the implementation of modern healthcare strategies in the activities of American health organizations and services. Since the establishment of the initiative, significant progress has been tracked in improving health and well-being in the USA.
As a new health educator, I plan to consider strategies formulated by Healthy People 2020 in setting the curriculum guidelines for students. A better understanding of problems emerging in the healthcare sphere may be achieved by analysis of recent researches conducted within its framework. Additionally, I may use online tools and resources established by Healthy People 2020 to raise public awareness concerning health issues. These resources are described in more detail below in this paper.
The evidence-Based Resources database available on the Healthy People official site provides a wide range of materials derived from surveys and researches conducted in the sphere of health care since 2000. Therefore, it may be used by health educators as a source of credible data needed to develop an objective vision of a current situation in the public health area. All materials are easily accessible which allows us to use them in the educational process (Who’s leading the leading health indicators? 2019). Interactive Data Search Tool helps to find publications on a specific topic using different filters, such as topic area, year of publication, or data source. These publications may be used as sources for research projects and papers.
Healthy People eLearning platform helps students and health educators to get access to case studies on a broad range of healthcare issues. Also, during the study process, public health educators can use the archive of webinars and video lessons available on the site as well as materials from events organized by Healthy People (Healthy People 2020 leading health indicators: Progress update, 2019). Regularly, Healthy People presents infographics demonstrating progress achieved toward the accomplishment of its plans and strategies.
Healthy People strives to maximize innovative collaboration between different private and public agencies to combine efforts in assessing the needs of the community. With this regard, public health educators may encourage people to participate in initiatives supported by Healthy People (Comprehensive laboratory services survey summary data report, 2016). A program for effective interventions (MAP-IT) was created for mobilizing potential partners in the sphere of health care. It is available on the website with all the related instructions and sources for those who want to contribute to public health enhancement using mechanisms of efficient communication.
Another useful resource introduced by Healthy People is Content Syndication. It was established by The Health and Human Services Administration. This instrument allows users to share content from the website to other online platforms in a very simple way. The information is updated automatically via a special widget that has to be added to a site, so no extra time is needed to monitor and update information. It is possible to select which data is to be integrated and easily match it with the frame of the site.
Learning Modules project was established to cover a wide range of topics concerning such healthcare issues as injury and violence prevention, emergency preparedness, access to health services, and many others (Healthy People 2020 leading health indicators: Progress update, 2019). It is an instrument for integrating the Healthy People initiative into public health education. Lectures are given by highly professional health care experts. Modules include student assessments, recommended readings, and supplemental learning resources. They can be learned as a course or separately to get the required information on a specific subject.
Progress achieved in corresponding Healthy People 2020 objectives may be evaluated with the use of data provided on its website. For example, to analyze such Leading Health Indicators as environmental health, it would be useful to look into a midcourse review that gives a snapshot of achievements made in the first half of the decade. Also, many related documents may be found via the Evidence-Based Resources database. It contains all the reports, research papers, and programs regarding such critical issues of environmental health as air pollution, water quality, waste management (Healthy People 2020 leading health indicators: Environmental quality, 2019). Interactive infographics and presentations are also presented on the site. Additional information on this topic may be provided by health care experts in lectures within the frame of the Learning Modules project.
The progress achieved within the past decade indicates that the activity of Healthy People 2020 makes a significant contribution to the enhancement of life quality of the nation. This platform provides health educators with all the tools and resources required to guarantee the effectiveness of their work. I plan to use suggested instruments for developing my proficiency as well as for increasing public awareness of the determinants of health.
References
Comprehensive laboratory services survey summary data report. (2016). Web.
Healthy People 2020 leading health indicators: Environmental quality. (2019). Web.
Healthy People 2020 leading health indicators: Progress update. (2019). Web.
Who’s leading the leading health indicators? (2019). Web.