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Primer on Environmental Public Health Information Activities
July 27, 2004
Dear Colleague:
Over thirty years ago, the federal government, and numerous State governments, created environmental agencies to address pressing environmental pollution problems that existed throughout the nation. These environmental pollution problems had negative effects, not only on the natural environment, but also on the public's health. This link between the environment and its effects on human health remains a priority issue for state and federal agencies and now receives increased attention as we face new environment and public health issues.
The Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) established the State/EPA Information Management Work Group (IMWG) in 1998 to work collaboratively on information management issues of joint concern. Last year, the IMWG established an Environmental Health Data Action Team to foster dialogue, initiate exchanges of information and experiences, and provide recommendations to the IMWG concerning joint health and environment activities. The Action Team consists of members from State environment departments, State health departments, USEPA program offices, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Recently, the Action Team developed a draft Primer on Environmental Public Health Information Activities (PDF) (44 pp, 682KB) to serve as a reference for selected activities and an information resource document. The Primer concentrates on initiatives of USEPA and the Department of Health and Human Services activities including some that provide funding to States and rely on States for information and data exchange. The Primer should be thought of as a living document incorporating new information about programs and activities as they are developed. It is not designed to be comprehensive. The IMWG and the Action Team welcome your suggestions for additional information to be included in the Primer.
We hope you find the Primer useful and we welcome your input on how it may be improved. In addition, the USEPA Office of Environmental Information, Office of Information Analysis and Access (OIAA) has also been working to support the information mission of USEPA, its partners and the USEPA Indicators Initiative to provide better access to information about human health. OIAA will soon make a searchable inventory of over 300 federal health databases available. Now undergoing final Agency review and approval; look for notification of its availability in the near future.
If you have any questions or would like to offer any suggestions for the Primer, please contact William Sonntag of USEPA OEI at Sonntag.william@epa.gov or Kristen Dunne of ECOS at kdunne@sso.org
Mike Linder, IMWG Co-chair /s/
Director, Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality
Kimberly T. Nelson, IMWG Co-chair /s/
Assistant Administrator and Chief Information Officer
Office of Environmental Information
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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