What was the significance of the 1979 surgeon general’s report?

Reports and other publications from the Surgeon General are widely respected for their evidence-based approach to our nation’s most urgent public health issues. These influential documents bring together the expertise of scientific, medical, and public health professionals nationwide on a wide variety of topics, from the opioid and e-cigarette crises to health misinformation, disease prevention, breastfeeding, and oral health.

Inhaltsverzeichnis Show

End-of-Decade Assessments
Progress Made
Lessons Learned

Surgeon General’s Reports are comprehensive scientific review documents prepared by experts on behalf of the Surgeon General. They are often landmark publications that identify and shape the science and culture of our public health. A recent example, released in 2016, is Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health.

Surgeon General’s Calls to Action are science-based summary documents prepared by experts on behalf of the Surgeon General. They are intended to catalyze action on urgent public health problems, such as suicide, hypertension, and maternal health.

Surgeon General’s Advisories are public statements that call the American people’s attention to a public health issue and provide recommendations for how that issue should be addressed. Advisories are typically shorter than Reports or Calls to Action, and they are reserved for significant public health challenges that demand the American people’s immediate attention.

Many of these reports and other publications can be accessed below. In addition, as part of its Profiles in Science project, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) has digitized and made available numerous documents of the Surgeon General published prior to 2000. The collection includes reports, proceedings, background papers, photographs, and other ephemera of historical interest. Selected documents from 2001 to the present are also available as full text in NLM's Health Services Technology Assessment Texts system.

Reports of the Surgeon General on the adverse health consequences of smoking triggered nationwide efforts to prevent tobacco use. Reports and other publications on HIV/AIDS, mental health, substance use disorders, nutrition, and violence—to name but a few—have heightened America's awareness and focused action on critical public health issues, and continue to generate major public health initiatives.

@inproceedings{General1979HealthyP, title={Healthy people : the Surgeon General's report on health promotion and disease prevention}, author={Surgeon General}, year={1979} }

More than 153,000 Americans die annually as a result of accidental injuries-nearly half of them from motor vehicle accidents, the rest from falls, bums, poisoning, and other causes. Injuries are the leading cause ofdeath between ages I and 44, and account for approximately 55 percent offatalities for those aged 15 to 24. Further, it is estimated that in 1979 70 million people suffered non-fatal accidental injuries requiring medical treatment. In 1980, the damage, injury, and lost productivity…

Healthy People: The Surgeon General’s Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (report) released

Healthy People: The Surgeon General’s Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention provides the first set of national health objectives for improving the health of all Americans. In the report, goals were set to be achieved by 1990 for five major stages of life: (1) infants from birth to age 1, (2) children ages 1–14, (3) adolescents and young adults ages 15–24, (4) adults ages 25–64, and (5) older adults ages 65 and above. The report also identifies action for health in three areas: preventive health services, health protection, and health promotion. Within the health-protection area, fluoridation of community water supplies was identified.

“With tooth decay affecting 95 percent of Americans, it is the most common health problem, costing an estimated $2 billion yearly for treatment. Adverse consequences include pain, infection, and tooth loss.”

Healthy People: The Surgeon General’s Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

In 1980, Promoting Health/Preventing Disease: Objectives for the Nation was released as a companion document to Healthy People. The companion document provides a review of the 15 focus areas. For each area, the document describes the nature and extent of the problem, including health implications, status, and trends; prevention and promotion measures; specific national objectives, principle assumptions that underlie the framing of the objective; and data necessary for tracking progress.

Impact

In 1987, the U.S. Public Health Service, with the assistance of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, began holding regional hearings across the country. Public testimony was collected at these hearings and at other sessions conducted in conjunction with national health organizations. The Healthy People 2000 Consortium formed, initially with 150 organizations that were engaged in the development and support of the national health objectives. The consortium later grew to encompass 333 organizations, including all state and territorial health departments and national membership organizations, such as the American Public Health Association.

Released in 1990, Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives established the foundation for a 10-year agenda for national health objectives. New objectives are released every decade.

Sources

HealthyPeople.gov. About Healthy People [website].

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service. 1980. Promoting Health/Preventing Disease: Objectives for the Nation. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service. 1991. Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service.

U.S. Public Health Service, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health and Surgeon General. 1979. Healthy People: The Surgeon General’s Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; Public Health Service; Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health and Surgeon General.

In 1979, Surgeon General Julius Richmond issued a landmark report titled “Healthy People: The Surgeon General’s Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.” Then, in 1980, ODPHP released Healthy People 1990, which was followed in later decades by new iterations of the Healthy People initiative, each building on the last.

Healthy People 1990 included the first set of ambitious, measurable 10-year objectives for improving health and well-being nationwide. It focused on decreasing deaths throughout the life span and on increasing independence among older adults.

Healthy People 2000, the second iteration of the initiative, was guided by 3 broad goals:

Increase the span of healthy life
Reduce health disparities
Achieve access to preventive services for all

Healthy People 2010, the initiative’s third iteration, had an increased focus on improving quality of life. In addition, one of its overarching goals was to eliminate health disparities rather than simply reduce them.

Healthy People 2020, the initiative’s fourth iteration, had 4 overarching goals:

Attain high-quality, longer lives free of preventable disease, disability, injury, and premature death
Achieve health equity, eliminate disparities, and improve the health of all groups
Create social and physical environments that promote good health for all
Promote quality of life, healthy development, and healthy behaviors across all life stages

Healthy People 2030, launched in August 2020, is the fifth — and current — iteration of the Healthy People initiative. It builds on knowledge gained over the last 4 decades and has an increased focus on health equity, social determinants of health, and health literacy — with a new focus on well-being.

End-of-Decade Assessments

At the end of every decade, HHS assesses progress toward achieving Healthy People’s 10-year national objectives. To learn more about the nation’s progress over the decades, check out these end-of-decade assessments:

Progress Made

Since Healthy People 1990, the United States has made significant progress on key public health priorities, as organizations at the local, state, territorial, tribal, and national level have focused their resources and efforts to improve the health and well-being of all people. Achievements include:

Reductions in major causes of death, like heart disease and cancer
Increases in preventive behaviors, like childhood vaccinations
Reductions in risk factors, like smoking, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol

Progress like this isn’t easy, but it’s possible with persistent efforts — and partnerships that span sectors.

Lessons Learned

One of our key lessons learned from Healthy People is that a widely accessible plan with achievable goals can guide individuals, organizations, communities, and other stakeholders to improve health. We also know that improving health nationwide requires collaboration within and beyond the public health field.

In addition, we’ve learned how important it is to monitor progress toward achieving Healthy People objectives and to share high-quality data and feedback. That’s why we've used rigorous objective selection criteria and why we’ve made sure Healthy People 2030 data are timely, easy to find, and easy to use.

Although we’ve made a lot of progress, the United States still faces many challenges. Healthy People 2030 provides a framework for addressing emerging health issues like COVID-19, the opioid epidemic, and e-cigarette use — along with ongoing issues like heart disease, cancer, and obesity.