Resolutions

Subject:   Support for a Health Tracking Network

Referred to: Reference Committee __

Whereas, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention manages a nationwide system for tracking infectious disease such as polio and typhoid – diseases which a nationwide tracking system helped eradicate;

Whereas, we have not updated our public health system to consistently track those diseases and conditions that are major sources of morbidity and mortality in the modern era, including asthma, birth defects, childhood cancer, neurologic diseases such as Parkinson’s, and other chronic conditions;

Whereas, these causes of chronic diseases are complex and often multifactorial, but environmental factors are increasingly implicated in the research;

Whereas, a gap in critical knowledge exists because of the lack of systematic data on the prevalence, incidence, pattern and trends of chronic disease and environmental factors that may relate to such chronic diseases;

Whereas, the link between environment and disease is a hotly debated topic and all parties would be well-served by an infusion of objective data;

Whereas, fundamental epidemiologic capacity would provide everyone from health care providers to biomedical researchers to officials in industry and government with important new insights;

Whereas, state and local health departments need epidemiologists, environmental health specialists, chronic disease investigators, technical resources and regional laboratories to track chronic disease and evaluate community exposures;

Whereas, integration of data systems and collaborative programs and partnerships among environmental health professionals and other parts of the public health and medical system also are lacking;

Whereas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) are developing a plan for a coordinated Nationwide Health Tracking Network among all states to identify and track chronic diseases and their related environmental factors;

Whereas, a comprehensive, nationwide disease-tracking system for chronic disease could help illuminate more clearly the relationship between environmental risks and disease, especially among children, identify who is most at risk for environmentally related illnesses, and guide our intervention and prevention efforts; therefore be it

RESOLVED that our AMA send a letter to appropriate members of Congress and the Secretary of Health and Human Services to support enhanced funding for CDC and ATSDR to establish a Nationwide Health Tracking Network; and be it further

RESOLVED that our AMA work with its Federation and other public health partners to advocate at the federal and state levels for public health resources to more effectively monitor, investigate, and respond to chronic diseases of potential environmental origin and develop appropriate prevention strategies.