ASTHO supports state and territorial health agencies in their work to protect the public’s health by addressing environmental health, or the intersection of people’s health with the environments in which they live, work, and play.

Environmental health encompasses foundational factors of health like food and water safety, air quality, healthy and safe housing, and preventing disease carried by vectors like ticks and mosquitoes. Environmental health interventions can include lead prevention and surveillance, designing chemical safety standards, health inspections in food retail locations, addressing hazards from natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires, and more.

ASTHO’s Environmental Health unit supports health agencies through several methods:

  • Develop best practices and resources for health agencies to develop their own environmental public health programs.
  • Provide temporary staffing and support fellowship programs for health agencies.
  • Connect environmental health professionals through peer opportunities like the State and Territorial Environmental Health Directors peer network, the National Association of Vector-Borne Disease Control Officials, and the State Tribal Liaisons peer group.

ASTHO also provides a comprehensive suite of actionable, capacity building resources that health departments can leverage to strengthen their environmental health programs. Explore these and more below.

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APPLETREE ASTHOConnects and Factsheets

ASTHO, with support from CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, announced awards to five state health agencies (or their partners) to support their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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One Health Webinars

ASTHO hosted informational webinars for states on the One Health framework — a collaborative approach to improve health outcomes that recognizes the connection between people, animals, and the environment.

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Environmental Health Programs and Services Portal

ASTHO fielded the Environmental Health Programs and Services Survey to state and territorial environmental health directors in 2019. The dashboard presents information on environmental health programs and services provided by state and territorial health agencies. 

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Responding to Environmental Health Threats Following Hurricanes

This blog post features insight from officials in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas on their experiences of post-hurricane environmental health issues, as well as advice and best practices for responding to these challenges. 

ASTHO Public Health Review podcast

Connecting Climate Change and Health Equity in Public Health Agencies

In this episode of Public Health Review, experts from the Washington state department of health discuss understanding and addressing climate and equity concerns.

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Cyanobacterial Blooms and Associated Illnesses: A Clinician Training Module for Physicians and Health Care Providers

ASTHO has created a clinician toolbox for physicians and health care providers to help them better understand cyanobacterial blooms and associated illnesses.

Collaborations

ASTHO manages several environmental health groups, including the State and Territorial Environmental Health Directors peer group, the State Tribal Liaisons peer group, the National Association of Vector-Borne Disease Control Officials, the State Health in All Policies Group, and the Climate Change Collaborative.

With input from these groups, we develop documents, interactive platforms, and webinars to showcase the work that the members do on key environmental health areas.

We also convene more specific, ad hoc workgroups if there is an environmental health issue that requires more focus. These groups have helped in the development of some of our products as well, like Public Health Confronts the Mosquito 2nd Edition.

ASTHO also convenes the Environmental Health Policy Committee and has worked with the committee to develop policy statements for climate and extreme weather, health in all policies, and a general environmental health policy statement.