NHM Health Focus: National Public Health Week
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April 4-10, 2005

NHM Health Focus: National Public Health Week

Empowering Americans to Live Stronger, Longer

We encourage you to educate yourself about healthy aging and the three P's:
Prevent, Protect, and Plan to empower Americans to live stronger, longer.

QUICK FACTS

Vaccination Saves Lives.

  • Seven childhood diseases have been reduced by 99% or more, thanks to vaccination. (CDC)

The number of children who are overweight continues to increase at an alarming rate.

  • Among children and teens ages 6-19, 16% are overweight and another 15% are at risk for becoming overweight. (CDC)

  • Overweight kids tend to become overweight adults, with a higher risk of developing serious health problems, including heart attack and stroke, type 2 diabetes, bowel cancer, and high blood pressure. (CDC)

The most common risks adolescents face are avoidable. (CDC)

  • Poor eating habits
  • Lack of physical activity
  • Tobacco use
  • Alcohol and drug use
  • Risky driving
  • Risky sexual behaviors

Most people start using tobacco before they finish high school.

  • Staying smoke-free in school means you will probably never smoke.(CDC)

  • Tobacco is often the first drug used by kids who use alcohol and illegal drugs like marijuana. (CDC)

Public health advancements and new treatment options are enabling Americans to live longer lives.

  • In 2000: 35 million adults 65 and older in the United States – nearly 12 percent of the total population. (APHA)

  • By 2030: this population will rise to 70 million - more than 20 percent of the total population. (APHA)

Living longer doesn’t mean Americans are living stronger.

  • Eighty percent of older adults suffer from at least one chronic condition. (APHA)

  • The average 75-year-old has three chronic conditions and uses five prescription drugs. (APHA)

  • Chronic conditions account for almost 95 percent of health care expenditures among older adults. (APHA)

 

Each year the American Public Health Association (APHA) joins with local and national public health groups to celebrate the first week in April as National Public Health Week

This year’s National Public Health Week theme is Empowering Americans to Live Stronger, Longer! This focus alerts us to the many ways we can prevent health problems by practicing healthy living, protect ourselves from disease and injury, and plan to live our lives in a fashion that promotes a higher quality of life.

[Note: Specific advice regarding disease prevention and protecting, planning for, and preserving good health varies with age, health needs and lifestyles, of specific populations.]

Access Excellence @ the National Health Museum is part of the solution. We encourage our Web site visitors to educate themselves about healthy aging and the three P’s: Prevent, Protect, and Plan in order to empower Americans to live stronger, longer.

As a National Partner, the National Health Museum joins APHA along with the sponsors and other National, State/County and Local Partners of National Public Health Week in saluting all the good work that’s being done across the country to promote living stronger, longer.

By working to bridge the gap between public health and museums and science centers through the National Public Health Partnership, the National Health Museum is joining with APHA to mobilize its network of museums and science centers from across the country to support National Public Health Week – read about how.

Get the Facts: National Public Health Fact Sheets

Access Excellence @ the National Health Museum resources related to protecting, planning for, and preserving good health:
The National Health Museum and National Public Health Week | Selected Resources from Access Excellence
Prevent   |   Protect   |   Plan   |   Empower All Americans