The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) officially launched Healthy
People 2020 on December 2, 2010, at the
George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
The event marked the formal release of the decade’s
national health promotion and disease prevention
objectives.
Each decade since 1980, the HHS has released
a comprehensive set of national public health
objectives. Known as Healthy People, the initiative
has been grounded in the notion that setting
objectives and providing benchmarks to track
and monitor progress can motivate, guide, and
focus action.
The HHS convened the Secretary’s Advisory
Committee on National Health Promotion and
Disease Prevention Objectives for 2020 to aid
in the process of developing the next decade’s
guidelines. The Advisory Committee was
charged with providing advice and consultation
to the Secretary: 1) to facilitate the development
and implementation of national health promotion
and disease prevention goals and objectives,
and 2) to inform the development of initiatives
that will occur during initial implementation of
the goals and objectives.
The December 2 launch program included
remarks by HHS Assistant Secretary for Health
Howard K. Koh, M.D., and members of the
Advisory Committee; an introduction and orientation
to the Healthy People 2020 website and
objectives; and a panel discussion about the uses
of Healthy People 2020.
For more information about the Healthy People 2020 initiative, please visit www.healthypeople.gov/HP2020.