ASTHO Releases Five Health Policy Statements
ASTHO board of directors approved one new and four updated health policy statements.
October 31, 2023
ARLINGTON, VA—The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) board of directors approved one new and four updated health policy statements. The statements cover suicide prevention, territorial Medicaid funding, reproductive health, climate and health, and eliminating structural racism to achieve optimal health for all.
“ASTHO policy statements serve as a critical tool for our members as they work to inform policy and decision-making in each jurisdiction. Moreover, these are critical documents which our government affairs team uses in their advocacy with Congress and the Administration,” says ASTHO CEO Michael Fraser, PhD. “Each statement is evidence based and includes guidance from our members who serve on ASTHO policy committees. I am certain that these documents will assist in our collective efforts to improve health across the nation.”
ASTHO’s new and updated policy statements include:
New: Suicide Prevention
Suicide prevention recommendations entail strengthening socioeconomic supports such as housing, education, and social services across systems to prevent experiences of crisis; supporting policies creating protective environments; improving access and delivery of healthcare services through identification and treatment of those at highest risk; and developing inclusive suicide prevention programs and policies that support the needs of communities of color, LGBTQ+ communities, healthcare workers,
Updated: Climate and Health Policy Statement
Climate and health policy recommendations include ensuring sufficient and sustained federal funding; supporting efforts to conduct climate adaptation and vulnerability assessments and planning activities; expanding state and territorial health agency monitoring and surveillance capacity; and incorporating assessment and evaluation strategies.
Updated: Achieving Optimal Health for All by Eliminating Structural Racism
The policy statement includes recommendations acknowledging structural racism as a fundamental cause of heath inequities and recognizing the role of public health agencies in efforts to eliminate racism and achieve optimal health for all; leading internal organizational change efforts that address structural racism in health agencies and support racial healing and transformation within state and territorial public health agencies; supporting jurisdiction-wide efforts to address and eliminate structural racism and advance health equity.
Updated: Sexual and Reproductive Health Policy Statement
The updated policy statement includes recommendations on access to high quality, affordable reproductive health services; supporting increased access to telehealth options; collaboration with federal, state, and local transportation officials to ensure that all people have access to safe, healthy, convenient, and affordable transportation options to maximize access to sexual and reproductive health services; educating consumers and providers to ensure the provision of culturally appropriate, evidenced-based reproductive health; assuring adequate and flexible federal funding to allow programs to address specific needs of the communities served; and leveraging and coordinating public and private funding for coverage sources.
Updated: Territorial Medicaid Funding: Achieving Parity with States Policy Statement
The policy statement was updated to reflect the most up-to-date legislative language and Medicaid statistics. This policy recommends applying Medicaid financing structures to the territories in parity with the Medicaid structures applied to states. Specifically, ASTHO calls for the removal of the Section 1108(g) cap on federal Medicaid funding to the territories and the extension of an equitable Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) to all territories. These recommendations are required to implement equitable and sustainable territorial Medicaid programming.
See ASTHO’s full suite of health policy statements.
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ASTHO is the national nonprofit organization representing the public health agencies of the United States, the U.S. territories and freely associated states, and Washington, D.C., as well as the more than 100,000 public health professionals these agencies employ. ASTHO members, the chief health officials of these jurisdictions, are dedicated to formulating and influencing sound public health policy and to ensuring excellence in public health practice.