Planning is now underway for Healthy People 2030 and advocates have an opportunity to help shape child and adolescent health priorities for the next decade. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is soliciting written comments on the proposed objectives for Healthy People 2030 until 5:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, January 17, 2019.
Managed by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at HHS, the Healthy People initiative identifies our nation’s top health improvement priorities for all people in the United States. For more than three decades, Healthy People has established ambitious, yet achievable, 10-year goals and targets that allow stakeholders to “monitor progress, motivate action, and guide efforts to improve the health across the country.”
This public comment period is a key window of opportunity for child and adolescent health advocates to weigh in on what and how we should be measuring our progress in the healthy development of kids and teens over the next decade.
Core objectives are central to the Healthy People initiative. There are a number of child- and adolescent-specific objectives proposed for 2030 which advocates can contribute their expertise and comment on. The following are some of the proposed objectives for 2030 that focus on the health of pregnant and postpartum women, children and adolescents by topic area:
Adolescent Health
AH-2030-01: Increase the proportion of adolescents aged 12 to 17 who received a preventive health care visit in the past 12 months
AH-2030-06: Reduce chronic school absence among early adolescents
Early and Middle Childhood
EMC-2030-04: Increase the proportion of children aged 4-17 years with ADHD who receive any age-specific recommended treatment, including medication and/or behavioral therapy
Immunizations and Infectious Diseases
IID-2030-11: Reduce the percentage of children in the U.S. who receive 0 doses of recommended vaccines by age 2 years
IID-2030-12: Increase the percentage of adolescents aged 13 through 15 years who receive recommended doses of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine
Maternal, Infant, and Child Health
MICH-2030-08: Increase the proportion of pregnant women who receive early and adequate prenatal care
MICH-2030-16: Increase the proportion of children (aged 9-35 months) who have completed a developmental screening
MICH-2030-D01: Increase the percentage of women who are screened for postpartum depression at their postpartum checkup
MICH-2030-D02: Reduce the proportion of pregnant women who use illicit opioid pain relievers during pregnancy
Oral Health
OH-2030-10: Increase the proportion of children and adolescents aged 3 to 19 who have received dental sealants on one or more of their primary or permanent molar teeth
Social Determinants of Health
SDOH-2030-01: Increase the proportion of children aged 0-17 years living with at least one parent employed year round, full time
SDOH-2030-05: Reduce the proportion of children who had ever experienced a parent who has served time in jail
Vision
V-2030-01: Increase the proportion of preschool children aged 3-5 years who receive vision screening
Advocates also have the opportunity to propose a new objective for inclusion in Healthy People 2030. For example, some child health advocates are urging HHS to address childhood trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in Healthy People 2030 by including objectives addressing ACEs and trauma-informed care services in the currently proposed topics and objectives and/or by making ACEs its own topic area.
Public comment is an essential part of developing the 2030 Healthy People objectives. I encourage you to learn more about the Healthy People initiative, subscribe to the Healthy People Listserv, and submit your comments today!
For questions about public comment, please email HP2030@hhs.gov.
