American Public Health Association Needs Your Help in Their New PHACT Campaign!

Flickr: StevenMiller

There is still a lot of work to be done to ensure our nation's leaders understand the absolute necessity of prevention to the public health of our country and the policy priorities that will help us create healthier communities. So the American Public Health Association (APHA) is encouraging you to join the effort through their new Public Health ACTion (PHACT) Campaign. The priorities in this campaign: increase public health funding; and protect public health funding in reform.

Without funding, prevention efforts will be weakened. According to the campaign materials, "the 2011 continuing resolution included more than $740 million in cuts to CDC’s budget authority. By translating research findings into effective intervention efforts, CDC has been a key source of funding for many of our state and local programs that aim to improve the health of communities."

"CDC continues to be faced with unprecedented challenges and responsibilities, ranging from chronic disease prevention and eliminating health disparities to bioterrorism preparedness and combating the obesity epidemic. It is notable that more than 70 percent of CDC’s budget supports state and local health organizations and academic institutions. CDC funds the following in communities across the country:

• Injury control programs;
• Programs to reduce tobacco use;
• Programs that build healthier schools, worksites and communities;
• Initiatives to prevent heart disease, cancer, stroke, and other chronic diseases;
• Programs to improve nutrition and immunization;
• Programs to monitor and combat environmental effects on health;
• Interventions to improve oral health;
• Birth defect prevention programs;
• Public health research;
• Strategies to prevent healthcare-associated infections, and other infectious diseases; and
• Data collection and analysis on a host of vital statistics and other health indicators" - PHACT Campaign materials

In order to keep up this good work, continued funding is absolutely critical both at the national level - CDC, for example - and state level - local coalitions and other public health groups. So here's where you can help. As part of PHACT, you can use the toolkit put together to write LTE's, contact your US Congressperson, attend public hearings, learn what to ask at public hearings, develop grassroots etc. 

Health prevention saves lives and it saves money in the long-run. The more money put into prevention the more dollars we'll save in health care costs in our nation. Together we will become a healthier county.

To learn more about PHACT and how you can help, click here.