Communities unite around National Public Health Week: Events promote ‘Healthiest Nation 2030’
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* Lindsey Wahowiak

Hundreds of communities rallied around the theme “Healthiest Nation 2030” to take steps — and lots of them — toward creating a healthier nation during National Public Health Week.

Events across the country captured the spirit of NPHW, from fun runs and walks to health fairs to educational summits. The events also spread online, where thousands of tweets, photos and other media were shared with the message of making the U.S. the healthiest nation in a generation.

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[Figure1](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/47/4/1.3/F1)

Students from Claremont Graduate University’s School of Community and Global Health use Los Angeles’ Metro Bike Share to tour the city during National Public Health Week, one of many events held in communities across the nation.

Photo courtesy Jonathan Rodriguez

For more than 20 years, APHA has served as the leader of NPHW, a weeklong effort to share the successes of public health, and to spread its message to those who are not actively working in the field. This year’s theme, and the infographic APHA released to support it, noted that all people and all sectors have a part to play in making the U.S. healthier for everyone.

Melissa McNeily, MS, director of APHA’s Affiliate Affairs, which coordinates NPHW efforts, said this year’s events and engagement were inspiring on many levels.

“Every year, NPHW activities from all corners of the country show the diversity of what public health is all about, and the passion of the people who have made it their work,” McNeily told *The Nation’s Health.* “This year was no exception. There were so many amazing events spreading the message this year. It really goes to show how together, we can all work to make this the healthiest nation.”

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Marylynn Ostrowski, PhD, and William Spriggs, PhD, speak at APHA's National Public Health Week Forum on April 3 in Washington, D.C.

Photo by Elizabeth Rasmussen

Dozens of events have been featured on the NPHW website, where a Flickr pool allows people to share photos of the work they did that week. Even more were shared on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #NPHW.

Also on Twitter, the annual NPHW Twitter chat, a highlight of the week, gained national trending attention on April 5. More than 800 users shared nearly 4,300 tweets in just an hour, earning 68 million impressions.

McNeily said the Twitter chat’s success may be linked in part to a pre-NPHW webinar hosted by APHA that showed public health leaders and organizations how to best use social media to promote their NPHW events. An April 4 webinar on advancing physical activity also drew strong online attendance. Those and other related webinars are available on the NPHW website.

APHA’s NPHW Forum, held April 3 in Washington, D.C., and also now posted on the NPHW website, drew strong audiences online and in person. Moderated by APHA President Tom Quade, MPH, MA, and featuring panelists from public health, labor, public safety, faith communities and foundations, the forum explored how working across sectors can help achieve public health goals.

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At the Chicago Lighthouse — which serves people who are blind, visually impaired or disabled as well as veterans — health information is shared during a NPHW resource fair.

Photo by Dominic Calabrese, courtesy the Chicago Lighthouse

Among many topics covered in the forum, the right to live healthily with access to health care was a key point for those in attendance.

“If life is not a right, the rest does not follow,” said William Spriggs, PhD, chief economist at the AFL-CIO and a professor of economics at Howard University, who represented industry on the panel. “And this has to be solved. It’s not an option. As long as price is the allocator, some people will be rationed out. Because of our growing inequality…it’s going to be chasing our tail for some time.”

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[Figure4](http://www.thenationshealth.org/content/47/4/1.3/F4)

At Claremont Graduate University in California, alumni from the School of Community and Global Health promote career and internship opportunities for students.

Claremont photo courtesy Jake Ryann Sumibcay

APHA’s local NPHW events continued throughout the week, from a healthy happy hour at the Association’s headquarters April 5 to a panel on climate change hosted at the George Washington University April 6. The panel event was also part of the Year of Climate Change and Health, APHA’s effort to raise awareness around the ways climate changes health.

“A huge part of realizing the goals of Generation Public Health is addressing all the real ways climate is changing people’s health,” said Surili Patel, MS, senior program manager at APHA and organizer of the panel. “With the stage of NPHW, we had a great opportunity to share our science with people who might otherwise not get to hear it.”

Plans are already underway for NPHW 2018, scheduled for April 1-7.

“Even as we celebrate a successful NPHW, we can’t rest,” McNeily said. “We know there’s so much work to be done if we want to achieve the goals set out in ‘Healthiest Nation 2030.’ That’s why cross-sector collaboration is so important. We’ve started the conversation; now is the time to keep the ball moving and find new and even better ways to work together.”

For more on NPHW, including photos from events across the country, visit [www.nphw.org](http://www.nphw.org).

*   Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association