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What's New

  • Introducing the Center for Population Health Strategies

    ASTHO’s newly launched Center for Population Health Strategies shares proven and cost-effective population health improvement approaches with state and territorial health officials and their leadership teams.

  • Public Health is All Around You Infographic

    The work of public health is often invisible, but it saves lives every day. Whether you see them or not, state and territorial public health professionals work 24/7 to protect us from health threats, promote our health, and prevent us from experiencing diseases. This infographic shows how public health keeps you and your community healthy.

  • Building a Healthier Nation: The State of State and Territorial Public Health

    ASTHO’s new report highlights the five biggest public health issues facing state and territorial health agencies in 2018. The nation’s opioid crisis remains a high priority, while infectious diseases and other threats strain the capacity of our public health system. The report calls for sustained investments to promote health, prevent disease, and protect America’s health security.

  • ASTHO Profile of State and Territorial Public Health

    The ASTHO Profile presents longitudinal data on public health agency activities, structure, and resources, as well as individual agency profiles for all those who participated in the 2016 survey. In addition to the full report, ASTHO developed three infographics, a top findings report, and an animated video.

  • Summary: The Administration's FY 2018 Budget

    This resource summarizes the Administration's FY 2018 Budget Blueprint.

Recent Publications

  • Vermont Falls Prevention Quality Improvement Learning Collaborative Issue Brief

    This issue brief provides an overview of the Vermont Falls Prevention Quality Improvement Learning Collaborative, developed by ASTHO in partnership with CDC and the Vermont Department of Health (VDH). Four counties and affiliated hospitals participated in the learning collaborative, including Bennington (Southwestern Vermont Medical Center), Newport (North Country Hospital), Burlington (University of Vermont Medical Center), and Lebanon (Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire). This brief also describes the counties’ progress following the project’s implementation, and provides strategies and lessons learned that other states and territories can use to promote and implement interventions to reduce older adult falls.

  • Improving Drug Specificity and Completeness on Death Certificates for Overdose Deaths Meeting Report

    This meeting report highlights contributions from several key experts on barriers and opportunities related to improving the entirety and specificity of drug information on death certificates for overdose deaths. The report includes information on the death investigation and death certificate completion processes, key priorities for improving drug specificity on death certificates, and short and long-term strategies to addressing this issue.

  • Social Determinants of Health: A Quick Reference Guide for State Offices of Rural Health and State and Territorial Health Officials

    This quick reference guide, written in collaboration with the National Organizations of State Offices of Rural Health, outlines some of the major social determinants of health, which research shows has a large impact on health status. The document is aimed at familiarizing state offices of rural health and state and territorial health officials with the impacts of social determinants of health on rural populations. The guide outlines key interplays between health status and the social issues of housing, transportation, education, and food insecurity, and provides targeted resources and state examples to help public health officials learn more and take action on these significant drivers of health status, outcomes, and costs.

  • Territorial Public Health Performance and Accreditation 101

    ASTHO has developed “Territorial Public Health Performance and Accreditation 101: A Resource and Guide for Territorial Health Agencies. This guide is designed to provide THAs with a simple framework for improving their territorial public health systems’ overall performance, as well as the health of the communities they serve.

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  • Mission Possible: Healthy Lives for Everyone

    This year as I reflect on the theme for National Minority Health Month, Partnering for Health Equity, I am reminded of my early days in state and local public health. I started my career working with sanitarians, distributing flyers about lead poisoning screening, and serving as a health educator for diabetes self-management education and other behavioral risk factor reduction counseling. During these early experiences, I learned that it is vital to know your communities, engage them in decisions about strategies for addressing public health concerns, and recognize the influence of the social and environmental context on community health and opportunities to attain the best health possible.

  • New Jersey Health Commissioner Shares Vision for Public Health in the Garden State

    Shereef Elnahal is commissioner of health for the New Jersey Department of Health. Elnahal previously served as Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Quality, Safety, and Value at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), where he initially held a White House fellowship in 2015. In this capacity, Elnahal founded the Diffusion of Excellence Initiative to establish consistency in clinical and administrative best practices. Elnahal is a licensed physician with a dual-degree MD and MBA from Harvard University.

  • State Legislatures Strengthen Policies to Screen and Treat Sexually Transmitted Diseases

    On April 6, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed expedited partner therapy (EPT) legislation, which is only fitting, as April is STD awareness month. This year’s theme, “treat me right,” draws attention to the complementary roles, healthcare providers, and others play in addressing the growing problem of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in American communities. CDC estimates that each year there are at least 20 million new STD cases, and unfortunately, numbers have been trending in the wrong direction. Rates of gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia increased between 2014 and 2016, with particularly concerning rises in cases of congenital syphilis, drug-resistant gonorrhea, and other STDs among young adults. Furthermore, funding to support evidence-based interventions has declined at federal, state, and local levels, leading to a decreased capacity in state and local health departments to identify and treat STD cases. Researchers estimate that STDs cost the United States 16 billion dollars in direct and healthcare costs annually. If left untreated, STDs can lead to increased rates of cervical and possibly ovarian cancer, as well as infertility and a host of other negative health outcomes.

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