TRUST FOR AMERICAS HEALTH
Programs
Program 1 [2020]
In 2020, Trust for Americas Health (TFAH) continued to advance its mission to promote optimal health for every person and community and make the prevention of illness and injury a national priority. As a nonprofit, nonpartisan public health policy, research, and advocacy organization, TFAH envisions a nation that values the health and well-being of all and where prevention and health equity are foundational to policymaking at all levels of society. Across the range of public health issues TFAH addressed, including public health emergency preparedness (including the COVID-19 pandemic response), public health funding, obesity and chronic disease prevention, infectious disease, substance misuse and suicide, health equity, social determinants of health, and prevention and public health policy, TFAH promoted public health policies that affect the entire nation, with an emphasis on how public health policies and programs can promote healthy individuals and communities regardless of geography.TFAH maintains and enhances its work with traditional and new partners on high-impact health issues. Throughout its efforts, TFAH is also committed to advancing health equity and addressing the social determinants of health which are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, including through collaborative, multisectoral approaches. TFAHs work is guided by values of equity, independence, evidence-based, trust, partnerships, innovation, and financial stewardship.TFAHs projects focused on advancing an evidence-based public health system that is ready to meet the challenges of the 21st century. TFAH successfully published evidence-based reports; developed and advanced effective policy recommendations and approaches; convened learning collaboratives; spearheaded targeted initiatives and outreach; collaborated with partners at the national, state, and local levels; and produced educational resources.Among TFAHs accomplishments in 2020:TFAH, in partnership with the de Beaumont Foundation and the CDC Foundation, launched the Public Health Communications Collaborative (PHCC) to provide messaging support for public health departments nationwide and support and amplify the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic. PHCCs goals include increasing public understanding of and trust in COVID-19 public health guidance and to help public health practitioners navigate the complex pandemic public communications landscape. PHCC created a website to provide local health departments a 24/7 resource on COVID-19 breaking news opportunities and challenges.TFAH planned and hosted a special national webinar series focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, including: * Segment 1: Combatting COVID-19: Why Paid Sick Leave Matters to Controlling its Spread * Segment 2: Protecting Older Adults from the Harms of Social Isolation and Providing a Continuum of Care During COVID-19 * Segment 3: Mental Health and COVID-19: How the Pandemic Complicates Current Gaps in Care * Segment 4: COVID-19 and the Impact on Communities of Color: Our Nations Inequities Exposed * Segment 5: Ensuring Health Equity During COVID-19: Addressing Housing and Homelessness * Segment 6 (Congressional Briefing): Ending the Triple Pandemic: Advancing Racial Equity by Promoting Health, Economic Opportunity and Criminal Justice Reform * Segment 7: Ensuring COVID-19 Vaccine Access, Safety, and Utilization: Building Vaccination Confidence in Communities of ColorTFAH also planned and hosted a congressional briefing on the State of Obesity 2020: Better Policies for a Healthier America, with a special feature on food insecurity and its connection to obesity. The webinar addressed the latest national and state obesity trends and rates, highlighted promising approaches localities have used to ensure healthy communities, and offered policy recommendations on how to address the obesity crisis. TFAH continued to partner with The John A. Hartford Foundation to expand the Age-Friendly Public Health Systems (AFPHS) initiative. * During the year, work continued with the Florida Learning and Action Network, an AFPHS Recognition Program was created to incentivize adoption of the healthy aging framework across the country, and age-friendly standards and measures for accreditation were developed through collaboration with the Public Health Accreditation Board. Expansion efforts are underway in Mississippi, Washington, Michigan, Georgia, and New York. * TFAH partnered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to cosponsor a series of HHS Healthy Aging Regional COVID-19 calls with a focus on Age-Friendly Public Health Systems and the value of collaboration between public health and the aging services sector to address older adult challenges during the pandemic. TFAH published and disseminated a series of reports and issue briefs, including:1.Building Trust in and Access to a COVID-19 Vaccine Among People of Color and Tribal Nations: This policy brief calls for earning trust and building vaccine confidence in communities of color and tribal communities through data transparency, tailored communications via trusted messengers, ensuring ease of vaccine access and no out-of-pocket costs.2.Climate Change & Health: Assessing State Preparedness: This report assessed all 50 states and the District of Columbia on their level of preparedness for the health effects of climate change and found a great deal of variation in their preparedness to protect residents health.3.A Blueprint for the 2021 Administration and Congress: This report provides an action plan for the 2021 Administration and Congress to transform public health in America.4.The State of Obesity 2020: Better Policies for a Healthier America: This report provides a snapshot of rates of overweight and obesity nationwide, with a special feature on food insecurity and its relationship to obesity. The report includes recommendations on how best to address the obesity crisis grounded in two principles: (1) the need for a multi-sector, multi-disciplinary approach, and (2) a focus on those population groups that are disproportionately impacted by the obesity crisis.5.Beyond School Walls: How Federal, State and Local Entities Are Adapting Policies to Ensure Student Access to Healthy Meals During the COVID-19 Pandemic: This policy brief reviews steps the federal and state governments have taken to ensure students access to healthy meals when schools are closed and what needs to be done to ensure continued meal access as all school systems face uncertainties about how to safely reopen for the 2020-2021 school year. 6.COVID-19 Policy Response Brief What we are learning from COVID-19 about being prepared for a public health emergency: This policy brief highlights the most important action steps needed to ensure Americans health security. The brief includes recommendations for policy action within four major issue areas: funding and coordination; medical countermeasures; healthcare readiness; and equity and resilience.7.Pain in the Nation Update Brief on the Drug, Alcohol, and Suicide Crises in 2018: This issue brief examines the most recent data of drug overdose deaths, alcohol-related deaths, and suicides. The report recommends several policy actions to prevent these deaths.8.The Impact of Chronic Underfunding on Americas Public Health System: This report examines federal, state, and local public health funding trends and recommends needed investments and policy actions to prioritize prevention and effectively address 21st century health threats. It documents the chronic underfunding of the nations public health system.9.Ready or Not 2020: Protecting the Publics Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism: This report provides an annual assessment of states level of readiness to respond to public health emergencies and recommends policy actions to ensure that everyones health is protected during such events. This 2020 edition reports overall preparedness improvement but also identifies areas that need attention.GeographiesNot indicatedDatesJan 1, 2020 – Dec 31, 2020Source990No causes providedNo populations provided–$3.7MPublic Health Advocacy and Research
In 2023, Trust for Americas Health (TFAH) continued to advance its mission to promote optimal health for every person and community and make the prevention of illness and injury a national priority. As a nonprofit, nonpartisan public health policy, research, and advocacy organization, TFAH envisions a nation that values the health and well-being of all and where prevention and health equity are foundational to policymaking at all levels of society. Across the range of public health issues TFAH addressed, including public health emergency preparedness, public health funding, obesity and chronic disease prevention, infectious disease, substance misuse and suicide, healthy aging, health equity, social determinants of health, and prevention, TFAH promoted public health policies that affect the entire nation, with an emphasis on how such policies and programs can promote healthy individuals and communities regardless of geography.TFAH maintains and enhances its work with partners on high-impact health issues. Throughout its efforts, TFAH is also committed to advancing health equity and addressing the social determinants of health, which are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, including through collaborative, multisectoral approaches. TFAHs work is guided by values of equity, independence, evidence-based, trust, partnerships, innovation, and financial stewardship.TFAHs projects focused on advancing an evidence-based public health system that is ready to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. TFAH successfully published evidence-based reports; developed and advanced effective policy recommendations and approaches; convened learning collaboratives; spearheaded targeted initiatives and outreach; collaborated with partners at the national, state, and local levels; and produced educational resources.Among TFAHs accomplishments in 2023:TFAH released Legislative Priorities for the 118th Congress. In this issue brief, TFAH recommended Congress work to: (1) Modernize and Strengthen Public Health in Every Community; (2) Prepare the Nation for Health Emergencies and Outbreaks; (3) Promote Health and Prevent Chronic Diseases Across the Lifespan; and (4) Prevent Deaths from Substance Use and Suicide.TFAH hosted an in-person and livestream event recognizing the 20th anniversary of its State of Obesity: Better Policies for a Healthier America report at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The two-hour event featured White House and federal officials discussing the Biden Administrations priorities for improving nutrition and health including its National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. Senior federal agency officials discussed a whole-of-government approach to advance transformative policies and programs designed to address increasing rates of diet-related diseases and improve the health of the nation. The event also included a panel of community leaders and medical experts discussing effective community level obesity prevention programs and innovative approaches to create sustainable change to promote health.TFAH continued to co-lead the Public Health Communications Collaborative (PHCC). PHCC is an important and trusted source of messaging and communications support earning engagement with federal, state, and local public health officials and departments nationwide. Since its inception in August 2020 and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, PHCC has provided vital messaging resources to the public health community that are timely, clear, credible, and effective messages. PHCCs products include webinars, and via its website, messaging guidance, answers to tough questions, COVID-19 misinformation alerts, and downloadable/shareable social graphics. With the end of the public health emergency, PHCC began to produce messaging materials on other critical public health issues including routine vaccine uptake, countering misinformation, rebuilding trust in the public health system, developing culturally appropriate messaging, and protecting the publics health from climate impacted health risks like poor air quality. TFAH planned and hosted a congressional briefing and national webinar on its release of Ready or Not 2023: Protecting the Publics Health from Disease, Disasters, and Bioterrorism. The annual report measures states degree of preparedness to respond to a wide spectrum of health emergencies and to provide ongoing public health services. In 2022, we saw the U.S. surpassing 1 million deaths due to COVID-19, decreasing rates of routine vaccinations, and increasing prevalence of health misinformation. In addition, in 2022 the U.S. experienced 10 or more billion-dollar weather-related disasters for the eighth consecutive year. During the briefing, a panel of subject matter experts discussed the nations readiness for public health emergencies, examined the findings of the report, and discussed key recommendations for policymakers.TFAH planned and hosted a congressional briefing and national webinar on its release of The Impact of Chronic Underfunding on Americas Public Health System: Trends, Risks, and Recommendations, 2023. This annual report tracks federal, state, and local investment in public health and how underinvestment in public health programs continues to put Americans' lives and livelihoods at risk. Policymakers are asking: With the United States spending far more on healthcare compared to other high-income nations, why does our nation still yield substantially worse health outcomes and what funding and policy actions must we take to see better results? During the briefing, experts in public health policy and funding discussed the critical need for increased and sustained funding that specifically targets public health and prevention and how to address the longstanding gaps in public health capacity resulting from chronic underfunding.TFAH planned and hosted a congressional briefing and national webinar on its release of Pain in the Nation 2023: The Epidemics of Alcohol, Drug and Suicide Deaths. Deaths associated with alcohol, drugs, and suicide took the lives of 209,225 Americans in 2021, a 11 percent one year increase in the combined death rate. The increase in 2021 death rates occurred among all ages, races, and geographic groups, however the report found that increases were particularly high for youth suicides and drug overdoses among certain populations of color and in rural regions of the country. During the briefing, a panel of subject matter experts discussed the need for a comprehensive approach that focuses on the underlying causes of these deaths of despair that can help heal individuals and communities and make them more resilient.Through TFAHs ongoing partnership with The John A. Hartford Foundation, TFAH continued to lead Age-Friendly Public Health Systems (AFPHS), an initiative to elevate healthy aging as a core function at state and local health departments. In 2023, TFAH partnered with the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) in the selection of 10 public health institutes to participate in the initiative. TFAH and NNPHI will guide these 10 institutes in building their knowledge and expertise in healthy aging, with the goal of developing state department of health action plans based on the AFPHS 6Cs framework. TFAH also launched a podcast in support of the AFPHS initiative. This quarterly podcast features conversations with leaders in the AFPHS movement on opportunities, challenges, and model programs, with a focus on the role public health can play in helping older adults thrive.GeographiesNot indicatedDatesJan 1, 2023 – Dec 31, 2023Source990No causes providedNo populations provided–$4.8M
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