APHA Concludes 132nd Annual Meeting, 14,000* Public Health Professionals Attend

Washington, D.C., November 10, 2004- The American Public Health Association concludes its 132nd Annual Meeting here today where 14,000* public health professionals from around the world came together to share the latest in public health research and practice. Many of the more than 900 scientific sessions focused on the meeting's theme, "Public Health and the Environment."

"Our environment is inextricably linked to human health," said Georges C. Benjamin, MD, FACP, executive director of the American Public Health Association. "The quality of the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink are leading indicators of health outcomes. The built environment has also emerged as a major public health concern. By developing more livable, walkable communities, we can help improve health status."

Hundreds more sessions dealt with a full range of other pressing public health issues, including emerging infections, preparedness, access to care and health disparities. The program can be viewed at www.apha.org.

The Association's governing body adopted 20 new policies dealing with reducing alcohol consumption and advertising among youth, protecting children from overexposure to lead and threats to public health science. The policies newly adopted also include:

• Developing a Comprehensive Public Health Approach to Influenza Vaccination, which encourages the expansion of the U.S. capacity to respond to the current vaccine shortage and to better prepare for an influenza pandemic;
• Creating Transportation Systems and Policies that Promote Public Health, which calls for improving linkages between the fields of public health, transportation and land use to improve the built environment to help stem the obesity epidemic; and
• Support for Nutrition Labeling in Fast-Food and Other Chain Restaurants, which calls on restaurants and fast food chains to improve the nutritional quality of their food and provide consumers with the nutrition information of the foods they serve.

In addition, highlights of the five-day meeting included the following report releases:

• APHA, together with the United Health Foundation and Partnership for Prevention, released a report ranking the healthiness of U.S. states. For more information, visit www.unitedhealthfoundation.org.
• APHA with Research America released results of a nationwide survey on Americans' attitudes toward public health. For complete poll results, visit www.researchamerica.org.
• The Task Force on Preventive Health Services launched its Community Guide book, a one-stop resource with proven techniques for improving community health in nine critical areas that could also lower costs. More information is available at www.thecommunityguide.org.

* Preliminary statement incorrectly estimated nearly 14,500 attendees.