Healthy People ready for next decade

Healthy People 2030 is set to launch March 31.

The next round of America’s decade-long health objectives will combine successful efforts of the past with new programs, approaches and tweaks to bring the nation’s health into the future.

Healthy People 2030 builds on its 2020 predecessor, giving more consideration to the social determinants of health and health equity, while engaging leadership and the public across multiple sectors.

In a Nov. 5 Annual Meeting session on the initiative, organizers called on health supporters to get involved in the national movement and help create and support policies that improve health and well-being for all.

Among some of the changes expected in the new national objectives are updated, more fine-tuned goals. For example, “well-being” has been added to both the Healthy People 2030 vision and mission — the vision will now read: “A society in which all people can achieve their full potential for health and well-being across the lifespan.”

Another change? The number of objectives has been cut from 1,200 in Healthy People 2020 to 354 in Healthy People 2030.

“It was an indication of success,” said Carter Blakey, deputy director of the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, which manages the Healthy People initiative, who spoke at the Annual Meeting session. “Everyone wants to be part of Healthy People. But though (stakeholders like their objectives to be included), they also want fewer of them.”

In a restructuring move, three objective categories were added: core, developmental and research. In addition, the Healthy People website is undergoing a redesign and is scheduled to go live March 31, the same day Healthy People 2030 is officially unveiled during a celebration at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Blakey also said a wider net was cast for stakeholders when development for Healthy People 2030 started in 2016. For example, the 2030 initiative includes stakeholders in information technology and criminal justice.

Dushanka Kleinman, co-chair of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2030, called on public health workers to get involved in the national initiative and to encourage their communities back home to as well.

“Be a Healthy People champion,” she told attendees. “Link others to resources, share stories from the field and use the Healthy People framework.”

Learn more and sign up for Healthy People 2030 updates at healthypeople.gov.