Action Committee
Committee Co-Chairs:
Lissa Knudsen
Cherise Wong
Welcome to the exciting world of advocacy!
The Action Committee promotes public health advocacy by keeping APHA-SA members informed about major public health policy issues as they arise and facilitating transmission of APHA-SA opinions to appropriate decision-makers/legislators. Our primary role is to provide both advocacy training and advocacy opportunities for students involved in APHA-SA.
Advocacy Reports for Students in Public Health:
March 2007
June 2005
May 2005
March 2005
February 2005
October 2004
September 2004
ADVOCACY
Not sure what advocacy is? Public versus institutional policies? Need a refresher course in some high school civics? Take a look at the PowerPoint Presentation given by APHA-SA's ACTION committee during APHA's 2002 annual meeting. You'll learn more about political advocacy, public and private policies, and specific methods you can use as an advocate.
Download Take Action Now! Public Health Advocacy Strategies (11/13/02)
National Public Health Week 2008
This year, the national observance for National Public Health Week (NPHW) will run through April 7th-11th. This year's theme is "Climate Change." During National Public Health Week (NPHW), communities, universities, health agencies and other organizations across the country joined together to promote and commit to the public's health. In the past APHA-SA created a student guidebook to provide students with examples of what other students and student groups have done for NPHW in the past and tips on how to organize these types of events.
This year we welcome students to contribute to an online blog created especially for the theme of NPHW 2008 so that they may share their positions, ideas, or ongoings of what climate change efforts should or have been happening! Please visit http://www.nphw.blogspot.com/ to post your comments today!
2007 National Public Health Week Student Guidebook
2005 National Public Health Week Student Guidebook
2004 National Public Health Week Student Guidebook
Writing Letters to the Editor
Always wanted to write a letter to the editor of your local community, school or regional newspaper? Check out the News and Views, APHA-SA's quarterly newsletter with few quick tips to get you started or visit http://www.capwiz.com/apha/home/ for templates off which to build your letters written to your local representatives!
Serve on the ACTION Committee
Want to become part of the ACTION Committee and help APHA-SA train its membership and other students to be better advocates, communicate about advocacy, and advocating on important public health and student issues. Email the action Committee Co-chairs for more detailed information about how to get involved.
Past ACTIONS : Preserving student member access to the American Journal of Public Health
In the fall of 2001, APHA's Executive Board voted to deny student members (and other subsidized members) print journal subscriptions to the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) due to financial reasons. As the student entity within APHA, we were concerned about the impact this policy change would have on APHA-SA's membership and on the student membership of APHA in general. When we notified our members of this decision the response was unprecedented and APHA-SA was determined to take ACTION. In response, the leadership of APHA-SA wrote a letter to Dr. Mohammad Akhter, APHA's Executive Director during the time this new policy was implemented, requesting that APHA: 1) reinstate print subscriptions for all students; or 2) make a print AJPH subscription available to students for a nominal cost. Resa M. Jones, APHA-SA's first Chair to serve on APHA's Executive Board then made a motion, which passed, and provides all APHA student members with the option of receiving a print copy AJPH subscription for an additional $30 per year. The cost of printing the journal was $27 and therefore Ms. Jones and APHA-SA's leadership believed this was a satisfactory compromise. For more information about purchasing a print copy subscription to AJPH for $30, please contact AJPH's subscription services at ajph.subscriptions@apha.org or call (202)777-2742. Read more about this decision in the September 2002 issue of The Nation's Health.