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Enhancing Innovation and Capabilities of the Environmental Public Health Tracking Network
In September, 2000, the Pew Environmental Health Commission issued a report entitled America’s Environmental Health Gap:
Why the Country Needs a Nationwide Health Tracking Network.
In this report, the Commission documented that the existing environmental health systems were inadequate and fragmented and recommended a “Nationwide Health Tracking Network for disease and exposures.” In response to the report, Congress appropriated funds in the fiscal year 2002’s budget for the CDC to establish National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program (Tracking Program) and Network and has appropriated funds each year thereafter to continue this effort.
Environmental Public Health Tracking (Tracking) is the integrated surveillance of health, exposure, and hazard information and data from a variety of national, state, and local sources.
The Tracking Network is unique in that it provides the United States with accurate and timely standardized data and supports ongoing efforts within the public health and environmental sectors to improve data collection, accessibility, and dissemination as well as analytic and response capacity.
Data that were previously collected for different purposes and stored in separate systems are now available in a nationally standardized format allowing programs to begin bridging the gap between health and the environment.
Having accurate and timely tracking data enables public health authorities to determine temporal and spatial trends in disease and potential environmental exposures, identify populations most affected, and develop and assess the environmental public health policies and interventions aimed at reducing or eliminating diseases associated with environmental factors.
The availability of these types of data in a standardized network provide researchers, public health authorities, healthcare practitioners, and the public to have a better understanding about the possible associations between the environment and adverse health effects, and to assist them with decision making.
The concept of using Tracking data and other program resources to inform public health action is explicit in the Tracking Program’s mission, with the ultimate goal of reducing the burden of environmentally related health conditions.
Since 2005, one approach in monitoring Tracking Program performance is by gathering information on how the Tracking Program has been able to drive public health actions within funded jurisdictions.
These public health actions include using Tracking data to:
identify populations at risk; responding to outbreaks, clusters, and emerging threats; identify, reduce, and prevent environmental hazards; and informing policy makers, communities and other regarding potential environmental health risks.
Since the end of 2015, over 340 public health actions have been documented by current state and local grantees.
With rapid changes in information technology and tools; changing data and information needs; changes in the population, disease, and environment, as well as the ability to continue to meet the growing needs of public health practitioners, researchers, and others, it is critical that the existing expertise, resources, and technical infrastructure in the Tracking Program and Tracking Network continue to support and enhance the availability, quality, timeliness, compatibility, and utility of existing hazard, exposure, and health effect data.
Why the Country Needs a Nationwide Health Tracking Network.
In this report, the Commission documented that the existing environmental health systems were inadequate and fragmented and recommended a “Nationwide Health Tracking Network for disease and exposures.” In response to the report, Congress appropriated funds in the fiscal year 2002’s budget for the CDC to establish National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program (Tracking Program) and Network and has appropriated funds each year thereafter to continue this effort.
Environmental Public Health Tracking (Tracking) is the integrated surveillance of health, exposure, and hazard information and data from a variety of national, state, and local sources.
The Tracking Network is unique in that it provides the United States with accurate and timely standardized data and supports ongoing efforts within the public health and environmental sectors to improve data collection, accessibility, and dissemination as well as analytic and response capacity.
Data that were previously collected for different purposes and stored in separate systems are now available in a nationally standardized format allowing programs to begin bridging the gap between health and the environment.
Having accurate and timely tracking data enables public health authorities to determine temporal and spatial trends in disease and potential environmental exposures, identify populations most affected, and develop and assess the environmental public health policies and interventions aimed at reducing or eliminating diseases associated with environmental factors.
The availability of these types of data in a standardized network provide researchers, public health authorities, healthcare practitioners, and the public to have a better understanding about the possible associations between the environment and adverse health effects, and to assist them with decision making.
The concept of using Tracking data and other program resources to inform public health action is explicit in the Tracking Program’s mission, with the ultimate goal of reducing the burden of environmentally related health conditions.
Since 2005, one approach in monitoring Tracking Program performance is by gathering information on how the Tracking Program has been able to drive public health actions within funded jurisdictions.
These public health actions include using Tracking data to:
identify populations at risk; responding to outbreaks, clusters, and emerging threats; identify, reduce, and prevent environmental hazards; and informing policy makers, communities and other regarding potential environmental health risks.
Since the end of 2015, over 340 public health actions have been documented by current state and local grantees.
With rapid changes in information technology and tools; changing data and information needs; changes in the population, disease, and environment, as well as the ability to continue to meet the growing needs of public health practitioners, researchers, and others, it is critical that the existing expertise, resources, and technical infrastructure in the Tracking Program and Tracking Network continue to support and enhance the availability, quality, timeliness, compatibility, and utility of existing hazard, exposure, and health effect data.
Related Programs
Environmental Public Health and Emergency Response
Department of Health and Human Services
Agency: Department of Health and Human Services
Office: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Estimated Funding: $104,000,000
Office: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Estimated Funding: $104,000,000
Relevant Nonprofit Program Categories
Obtain Full Opportunity Text:
Additional Information of Eligibility:
An important component of this announcement is to build partnerships among environmental and health agencies, their subordinate departments and staff, county health departments, and public health laboratories.
Therefore, applicants must demonstrate that their program will be a collaborative effort by including the following with their application: 1.
A letter of collaboration signed by both the state (or local) Secretary/Director of Health or equivalent and the state (or local) Secretary/Director of Environmental Quality/Protection/Natural Resources or the equivalent agency/department confirming that partnership exists or will be developed within 90 days from receiving funds: Between Health and Environmental Agencies/Departments to exchange and/or share data, provide technical expertise on data interpretation.
Evidence of a partnership may be a confirmation of an existing memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Health and Environment that covers activities related to this FOA.
Between appropriate organizational units within each Agency/Department (Within the Health Department this may include birth defect programs, cancer registries, vital statistics, lead programs, environmental epidemiology, the state laboratory, chronic disease, and others).
If Health and Environment are organized under one state agency/department, a letter of intent from the Secretary/Director or equivalent of that agency/department confirming that partnership exists or will be developed across appropriate organizational units within the Agency/Department as required.
2.
A letter designating a public health liaison within the environmental agency/department and an environmental liaison within the health agency/department, describing their roles and responsibilities respectively.
3.
Eligible local health departments must provide a letter from responsible state authority assuring that activities related to this program will be coordinated with the State Health Department, and that the state will cooperate in providing relevant data to support NCDMs on the local and CDC network portals.
4.
A letter of collaboration from the awardee’s Public Health and/or Environment Health Laboratory director to confirm their collaboration with the awardee throughout the funding period.
5.
A letter of commitment from awardee’s information technology management office indicating intent for collaboration and coordination on all IT focused activities listed under “Recipient Activit
Full Opportunity Web Address:
Contact:
Alex CharlestonAAC4@cdc.gov
Agency Email Description:
Grants Policy
Agency Email:
AAC4@cdc.gov
Date Posted:
2017-03-29
Application Due Date:
2017-05-31
Archive Date:
2017-06-30
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