Healthy People 2020 and its Overarching Goals

Healthy People 2020
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Healthy People 2020
Healthy People 2020 is the U.S. federal government initiative tailored towards disease prevention to help build a healthier nation. It was developed as a statement of national health objective primarily designed to identify preventable threats to the population's health and the establishment of national goals intended to facilitate the reduction of these threats (USDHHS, 2020).
There are four overarching goals of Healthy People 2020. The first goal is to attain longer and high-quality lives free of injuries, premature deaths, disabilities, and preventable diseases. The second goal is to eliminate disparities, health equity, and improve the health of all groups. The third goal is to create physical and social environments that promote good quality of health for all. The fourth goal is to encourage healthy behaviors, promote quality of life, and facilitate healthy development across all life stages (USDHHS, 2020).
Personally, these four goals reflect different meanings. The first goal infers to the commitment to have healthy lives for the longest time possible. The second goal requires increasing the ability of citizens to access health care services affordably and without discrimination. The third goal pertains to providing facilities that will improve health practices. The fourth goal directs the population to take control of their health by embracing healthy lifestyles.
In monitoring progress towards realizing the goals of Healthy People 2020 to promote health, eliminate disparities, prevent disabilities and diseases, and improve health, four foundations of health measures are used. These foundations include general health status, health-related quality of well-being and life, health determinants, and disparities.
Under the general health status foundation, the measures of progress listed are life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, years of potential life lost, mentally and physically unhealthy days, self-assessed health status, limitation of activity, and chronic disease prevalence. In regards to the health-related quality of well-being and life foundation, the measures of progress listed are social, mental, and physical health-related quality of life, participation in everyday activities, and well-being and satisfaction. Concerning the determinants of health foundation, the measures of progress listed relate to environmental, economic, social, and personal factors, which include individual behavior, genetics, biology, access to healthcare services, and the environments in which people are born, learn, live, work, play, and age. About the disparities foundation, the measures of progress listed include geography, mental and physical ability, gender, and ethnicity/race (ODPHP, 2020).
Under the general health status foundation, a self-assessed health status measure means that individuals can control their health by monitoring the condition of their physiological body process. The measure can evaluate the foundation of general health status category by enabling individu...