One of the newly chosen Leading Health Indicators sets targets for lowering consumption of added sugars. The indicators are 23 objectives from Healthy People 2030 that were chosen to drive action on improving health and well-being.
Photo by Hispanolistic, courtesy iStockphoto
With hundreds of objectives on a wide range of issues, Healthy People 2030 is a valuable tool for health workers, policymakers and communities. But with so many important public health targets, it can be hard to decide which objectives to prioritize.
Thanks to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, that quandry has been solved. In December, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services office released a list of 23 high-priority objectives, called Leading Health Indicators. From food insecurity and drug overdose deaths to physical activity and employment status, the 23 indicators zero in on the objectives that have the potential to make the most difference. While not chosen specifically for public health professionals, the list of indicators is a valuable tool for the workforce.
“By identifying core objectives, the Leading Health Indicators are a vital tool that allow the people on the ground to focus their work and concentrate their resources,” APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin, MD, told The Nation’s Health.
The Healthy People initiative guides health improvements by setting national objectives and tracking their progress over the next decade. Leaders use Healthy People objectives to set health goals for their communities.
The 2030 iteration of the initiative, launched Aug. 18, has been trimmed for efficiency compared to Healthy People 2020, which had over 1,000 objectives and 26 Leading Health Indicators.
“With fewer objectives and Leading Health Indicators, we avoid overlap and prioritize the most pressing public health issues,” Carter Blakey, deputy director of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, told The Nation’s Health.
Healthy People 2030 indicators are organized by life stage: infants; children and adolescents; adults; and older adults, as well as a broad category called “all ages.” The 23 indicators are spread across the categories.
The groupings allow health professionals to “use a broad implementation strategy throughout the decade that reflects different priorities for each life stage,” Blakey said.
Four of the Leading Health Indicators fall under the children and adolescents category. One of them calls for increasing reading skills among fourth-grade students, as 2017 data shows that nationally only 36.6% of such children can read at or above proficiency achievement level. Healthy People 2030’s goal is to increase fourth-grade reading proficiency to 41.5%.
The indicators for Healthy People 2030 overlap with some that were chosen for Healthy People 2020, as their importance has not waned. Returning objectives include reducing infant deaths and increasing physical activity in adults. Also returning to the list are several measures of health that worsened over the past decade, such as reducing rates of suicide and obesity.
“We have made some success, but we have a ways to go in some other areas,” Blakey said.
A key component of the Leading Health Indicators is that they promote goals that can be achieved in the short-term, such as reducing binge drinking in adults and promoting increased physical activity. The actionable targets allow organizations, communities and states to promote healthy behaviors that can have a swift impact on health.
Terry Richmond, PhD, a member of the federal advisory committee for Healthy People 2030, said it was important for the indicators to focus on risk factors and behaviors that lead to poor health outcomes.
“If we can move the needle on these critical objectives, we can really improve the health of the nation,” Richmond, an APHA member, told The Nation’s Health. “Through Healthy People, we’re looking to create social, physical and economic environments that promote attaining full health and well-being.”
Meanwhile, data is coming in about Healthy People 2020. A federal report released in December found that 54% of the 26 Leading Health Indicator targets for the initiative were either improved, met or exceeded. Examination of how those measures break down by group will better indicate their successes, Richmond said.
Well-being focus brings new measures
For the first time, Healthy People includes well-being as a defined measure. The vision for Healthy People 2030 is to create “a society in which all people can achieve their full potential for health and well-being across the lifespan.”
Introduced in December, eight overall health and well-being measures highlight health and non-health factors, including various measures of life expectancy, quality of life and overall well-being.
The new measures can be used to track and evaluate progress toward Healthy People objectives. They will assess the “ultimate realization of the Healthy People 2030 vision,” Paul Reed, MD, deputy assistant secretary for disease prevention and health promotion, said during the launch event.
The broader measures do not set targets the way the health indicators do and they are not quantified by annual data. However, questions that measure life satisfaction will be added to the National Health Interview Survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Blakey said.
The new measures provide a means to track progress on a high-level, global scale, evaluating collective indicators of overall health to examine the core, developmental and research objectives of Healthy People 2030.
Blakey said the health and well-being measures have been requested by health organizations for a long time.
“It took a lot of work to get here, and we’re happy to elevate these measures,” she said.
For more information on the new Leading Health Indicators and health and well-being measures, visit www.healthypeople.gov.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
