APHA is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, highlighting the organization’s crucial and longstanding role as a leader for public health. The celebration, which will include engagement activities and special events, comes with an eye toward readying the storied organization for the next century of public health challenges and progress.
“The APHA 150th anniversary comes at a time when it’s more important than ever to reflect on just how important public health is and to help reinvigorate and refresh our workforce,” said Kaye Bender, RN, PhD, FAAN, APHA president and executive director of the Mississippi Public Health Association. “It’s an opportunity to come together as the voice of science, the voice for reason and the voice for sound policy that improves people’s health.”
APHA has been a leader in the field since its founding in 1872, from early work on sanitation to new and persistent challenges such as inequity, climate change and COVID-19. The Association’s 150th anniversary celebration kicked off in October at the closing session of APHA’s 2021 Annual Meeting and Expo, which welcomed 10,000 attendees in Denver and virtually, and included a surprise performance from the Denver Broncos Stampede drum line.
“Let’s use this year celebrating our 150th anniversary to really promote public health and what a great career it is,” Bender said at the closing session.
Anniversary events will be held throughout the year, culminating at APHA 2022 in Boston, which will be held with the theme of “150 Years of Creating the Healthiest Nation: Leading the Path Toward Equity.”
As part of its celebrations, APHA will be sharing regular themes that address top public health priorities and reflect the diversity of public health disciplines and practitioners, said Joseph Bremner, MBA, APHA’s director of strategic communications.
“We want to energize members about what APHA has done and what we’ll do together in the future,” Bremner said. “It’s a chance to educate people about APHA and public health and bring even more people into the fold.”
The Association debuted a new video at APHA 2021 highlighting the important role APHA has played in historic events — such as movements for health equity, women’s rights and for people of color and LGBTQ populations — and the continuing role APHA plays today.
Upcoming annual APHA events — such as National Public Health Week, April 4-10, and the APHA Policy Action Institute in June — will also line up with 150th anniversary celebrations. Georges Benjamin, MD, APHA’s executive director, said that as the world’s most esteemed public health association, APHA has both a responsibility and opportunity to examine its historical role as well as help the world plan for the future.
“We have a chance to take everything we’ve learned about structural racism and integrate that into a national health agenda going forward,” Benjamin told The Nation’s Health. “As we celebrate APHA’s anniversary over this year, my hope is that we explore the future of health for ourselves and our planet, while being informed by the past.”
The year-long anniversary observance is a time to examine recent challenges and setbacks in public health, Benjamin said, such as the nation’s high COVID-19 death toll and the ongoing overdose and addiction crisis. The anniversary comes at a time when public health visibility is at a new high but the field’s workers face a backlash of threats, harassment and limits on their authority in response to the pandemic, he said. “Now is the time to engage with APHA,” Benjamin said. “Our collective voice is quite powerful, but so is our silence. Now is not the time to be quiet.”
Chris Chanyasulkit, PhD, MPH, APHA’s new president-elect, has been an Association member for 15 years, first joining when she was working toward her MPH degree. As a student member, Chanyasulkit served on APHA’s Education Board, which she said “made me see the work of public health in a very different way, and I’ve been an active member ever since.” She agreed the 150th anniversary is a chance to reflect on both public health wins and mistakes, reenergize the public health community and engage new partners.
“I see this anniversary as a chance for APHA to re-solidify its presence as a leader in speaking for health across our nation,” said Chanyasulkit, an adjunct assistant professor at Temple University College of Public Health. “I’m beyond thrilled to celebrate this moment as we chart our next 150 years.”
For more information on APHA’s 150th anniversary activities and to share the new video, visit www.apha.org/apha150.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
