APHA develops reports and issue briefs on critical public health issues such as health reform, environmental public health, food and nutrition, preparedness, quality improvement ,school, health, and education, and transportation.
Recent Release!
The New Public Health — Rewiring for the Future
Tight budgets, workforce shortages, increasing demands. With no shortage of challenges facing the public health community, this report recommends ways to seize opportunities to transform how public health programs and services are delivered, and provides lessons learned from APHA’s 2012 Midyear Meeting.
Read this report (PDF)
Health Reform
The Prevention and Public Health Fund: A critical investment in our nation’s physical and fiscal health - (June 2012)
The Affordable Care Act created the Prevention and Public Health Fund as an investment in activities that can help communities improve health outcomes and help the U.S. decrease health care costs. Two years later, this issue brief summarizes the need for prevention and public health funding; reviews the design of the Fund; and provides an update on how the Fund has been implemented and allocated to date.
Read this Report (PDF)
Implementing Health Reform: A Public Health Approach — A Report from APHA’s 2011 Midyear Meeting
APHA’s 2011 Midyear Meeting drew hundreds of experts to explore the opportunities and challenges in implementing health reform from a public health approach. This report highlights central themes and recommendations from the three-day event.
Read this Report (PDF)
The Affordable Care Act’s Public Health Workforce Provisions: Opportunities and Challenges
This issue brief summarizes the current challenges facing the public health workforce and the provisions of the Affordable Care Act that address those challenges. It also provides an update on the implementation of those provisions and highlights the provisions that could address important workforce challenges but remain unfunded.
Read this brief (PDF)
Reforming Our Nation’s Health System: Lessons for the Public Health Community
This report summarizes the proceedings from the 2010 APHA Summit on Health Reform. Topics covered include the prevention and public health provisions of the Affordable Care Act and lessons from existing state health reform efforts.
Read this brief (PDF)
Prevention Provisions in the Affordable Care Act
This issue brief summarizes the provisions of the Affordable Care Act that are most relevant for disease prevention and health promotion.
Read this brief (PDF)
98 Years of Almost: The Push for National Health Insurance
This issue brief provides a history of health care in the U.S. and a summary of past national health insurance attempts, culminating with the passage of the Affordable Care Act in March 2010.
Read this brief (PDF)
Shifting the Course of Our Nation’s Health: Prevention and Wellness as National Policy
This brief provides a discussion of how prevention and wellness must be the cornerstones of national public health and health care policy.
Read the brief (PDF)
Holes in the Net: Surveying the Impact of the Current Economic Recession on the Health Care Safety Net
This brief provides a discussion of how the economic recession that began in 2007 has negatively impacted access to health care and put an increased strain on public health infrastructure.
Read the brief (PDF)
The Role of Community-Based Programs in Ensuring Access to Care Under Universal Coverage
This brief describes the unique role played by community-based public health programs in our health care system and examines the continued need for these programs within a system of near-universal coverage using Massachusetts health reform as an example.
Read the report (PDF)
Environmental Public Health
Creating a Safe Food System for America
This brief summarizes the health and cost impacts of foodborne illness in the U.S. and outlines needed policy changes.
Read the brief (PDF)
America Breathing Easier: Working Together, We Can Alleviate the Burden of Asthma and Keep America Breathing Easier - (May 2009)
This booklet provides a summary of the state of asthma in the U.S. and highlights the role of CDC’s asthma control program in helping to combat this important public health issue.
Read the booklet (PDF)
ATSDR: Safeguarding Communities from Chemical Exposures report - October 2009
This report provides an overview of the essential roles and services of ATSDR in addressing community environmental exposures.
Read the report (PDF)
Protecting America’s Health: Federal Chemical Safety System - (November 2009)
This brochure highlights the complex federal chemical protection system by outlining the primary roles of the various agencies and programs.
Read the brochure (PDF)
Food and Nutrition
Recent Release!
The Farm Bill and Public Health: A Primer for Public Health Professionals - (June 2012)
The Farm Bill impacts public health through a variety of nutrition, agriculture and conservation policies and programs. This primer provides a summary of the major components of the existing Farm Bill and their connections to public health; it is an essential foundation for all public health professionals.
Read this Report (PDF)
Preparedness
Communicating Public Health Preparedness Media and Message Guide
This guide is intended to be used by public health professionals and partners to help provide consistent messages and communications about public health preparedness. Read the guide (PDF)
APHA Prescription for Pandemic Flu
This report details APHA’s support for comprehensive national planning for an influenza pandemic and recommends key changes to the current preparedness and response strategy.
View the report chapters
Quality Improvement in Public Health
Quality Improvement in Public Health: It Works! (June 2012)
This brochure describes national efforts that provide a consistent foundation for Quality Improvement (QI) in public health at all levels of government; provides stories of QI successes in public health departments; and offers resources to assist public health professionals who recognize the importance of applying QI to public health practice.
Read this brochure (PDF)
Health Department Initiatives: Moving Toward Quality Improvement - June 2011
This brochure highlights Quality Improvement work in five states using tools and planning methods from the National Public Health Performance Standards Program (NPHPSP), Mobilizing for Action through Partnership and Planning (MAPP), and the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) at state and local health departments sharing successes and reflecting on lessons learned. Read this brochure (PDF)
School, Health and Education
The Dropout Crisis: A Public Health Problem and the Role of School-Based Health Care
This issue brief outlines the social, economic, and long- term impacts of our nation’s high school dropout crisis, and how school-based health centers can improve students’ odds of high school completion.
Read this report (PDF)
The Health, Well-Being, and Educational Success of School-Age Youth and School-Based Health Care
This issue brief discusses the power of school-based health centers in promoting healthy lifestyles, particularly for their affect on the most disadvantaged students.
Read this issue brief (PDF)
Understanding Hunger and Obesity and the Role for School-Based Health Care
As discussed in this issue brief, hunger, obesity, and food insecurity all have proven health and educational consequences, which can be addressed by school-based health centers.
Read this issue brief (PDF)
School Climate, Student Success and the Role of School-Based Health Care
This issue brief investigates how a school’s climate, influenced by many factors within the school, can affect students and be improved by school-based health centers.
Read this issue brief (PDF)
The Vital Role of School-Based Health Centers in Creating a Violence-Free School Environment
This issue brief addresses the impact of violence on health and education, and the positive impact school-based health centers can have within the school building.
Read this issue brief (PDF)
Transportation
The Hidden Health Costs of Transportation
This report provides a summary of the estimated health impacts and costs associated the current transportation system.
Read this report (PDF)
The Hidden Health Costs of Transportation (Backgrounder)
This document is the backgrounder behind the report “Hidden Health Costs of Transportation” and provides a more detailed version of the health impacts and estimated costs.
Read this backgrounder (PDF)
At the Intersection of Public Health and Transportation: Promoting Healthy Transportation Policy
This report provides an overview of the connection between transportation and health and outlines how federal transportation policy provides an opportunity to promote health.
Read the report (PDF)