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CDC-Appointed Task Force Launches Tool to Provide Solutions for State and Local Health Challenges

Posted on: Wednesday, 10 November 2004, 12:00 CST

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A national blue ribbon task force on community health and two U.S. Surgeons General called today for government agencies, schools and employers to adopt a variety of proven techniques that could significantly improve public health in the United States and also lower costs for taxpayers.

At the annual American Public Health Association meeting in Washington, D.C., the Task Force on Community Preventive Services launched the Guide to Community Preventive Services, a one-stop resource for improving community health. The new Community Guide reflects nearly a decade of intensive systematic reviews of thousands of scientific studies; provides conclusions on 119 public health interventions; and makes 54 specific recommendations on how to tackle issues facing public health departments, employers, schools, health providers and individuals across the United States.

"Given what we know from the Community Guide, we could improve Americans' health significantly and easily by adopting these simple measures in our schools, workplaces and communities," said Jonathan Fielding, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., Chairperson of the Task Force and Los Angeles County Director of Public Health and Health Officer.

Issues addressed include physical inactivity, cancer, diabetes, vaccine-preventable diseases, tobacco, interventions in educational and housing sectors, motor vehicle occupant injury, oral health and violence. While the Task Force has previously produced guidelines for specific health issues in scientific journals and on the Web, this is the first time that all nine areas have been presented in one comprehensive document.

"States face difficult decisions in allocating limited resources," said U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S. "The evidence-based Community Guide can help policymakers and public health officials direct resources to programs that are proven to work."

An example of a successful evidence-based policy change was the Task Force's role in reducing deaths and injuries due to drunk driving. In 2001, the Task Force recommended that states reduce the legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for adult drivers from 0.10 percent to 0.08 percent because such policies reduce crashes, injuries and deaths. Congress subsequently provided incentives to states to pass such legislation. By the end of 2004, all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico had enacted such a policy. Although most states have multiple laws supporting the reduction of alcohol- impaired driving, this public health policy is estimated to save at least 400 to 600 lives each year.

Specific recommendations outlined in the new Community Guide could help to achieve a number of important public health objectives:

-- Reducing health care costs by improving the quality of health care through approaches such as disease and case management for those with diabetes.

-- Closing health disparities through effective population approaches to health promotion and disease prevention (e.g., community water fluoridation and intensive media approaches to prevent youth tobacco use).

-- Promoting workplace health by strategies such as smoking bans or restrictions and promoting physical activity.

-- Identifying legislative approaches that support prevention such as increased prices for tobacco and promoting physical education in schools.

-- Refining state health plans with system-wide practices including employee reminders for vaccinations and increased support for tobacco cessation.

About the Task Force on Community Preventive Services

The Task Force on Community Preventive Services was created in 1996 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as an independent, nonfederal decision-making body that provides leadership and recommendations evaluating community, population and health care system strategies to address a variety of public health and health promotion topics. The Task Force's findings are published in peer-reviewed journals and are made available at www.thecommunityguide.org. Task Force members receive guidance from consultants with experience in creating evidence-based guidelines, liaisons from federal agencies and representatives of professional organizations involved in public health. The new Community Guide book will be available in mid-January; more information can be found at http://www.thecommunityguide.org, or by calling 404-498-6180.

Task Force members:

Jonathan E. Fielding, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., Chairperson of the Task Force and Director of Public Health and Health Officer for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services; Professor of Health Services and Pediatrics, UCLA

Noreen M. Clark, Ph.D., M.Phil., Dean, University of Michigan School of Public Health; Marshall H. Becker Professor of Public Health and Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health

John M. Clymer, A.B., President of Partnership for Prevention, a nonprofit organization that analyzes public policy and develops evidence-based policy recommendations related to disease and injury prevention and health promotion

Kay Dickersin, PhD, Director for the Center for Clinical Trials and Evidence-Based Healthcare at Brown University

Alan R. Hinman, M.D., M.P.H., Senior Consultant for Public Health Programs at the Task Force for Child Survival and Development, a program affiliated with the Carter Center and Emory University

Robert L. Johnson, M.D., Professor and Interim Chair, Department of Pediatrics, New Jersey Medical School at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

Garland Land, M.P.H., Director of the Center for Health Information Management & (Epidemiology) Evaluation in the Director's Office of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services

Patricia A. Nolan, M.D., M.P.H., Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health

Alonzo Plough, PhD, Director and Health Officer, Public Health for Seattle & King County, Seattle, Washington

Nico Pronk, Ph.D., Vice President, Center for Health Promotion at HealthPartners in Minneapolis. Research Investigator and Co- Director, Population Health Unit, HealthPartners Research Foundation.

Dennis Richling, M.D., President of the Midwest Business Group on Health

Barbara Rimer, Dr.P.H., Professor and Deputy Director for Population Sciences at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Steven M. Teutsch, M.D., M.P.H., Senior Director for Outcomes Research and management in U.S. Human Health at Merck & Co., Inc.

http://www.usnewswire.com

Source: U.S. Newswire

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