Tracks: Working with Partners to Achieve Success

Tracks: Working with Partners to Achieve Success

[Announcer] This podcast is presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC – safer, healthier people.

[Narrator] Hello everyone. Thanks for tuning into the Tracks podcast, where we dive into topics related to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network.

In this podcast we explore the partnerships that played a crucial role in building the Tracking Network and hear from some of our partners about why this new environmental public health resource is so important.

Adam Reichardt, Director of Environmental Health, from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials told us about the benefits of partnerships.

[Adam Reichardt] I think the Tracking Network has been able to bring down barriers between various agencies at the state level, at the national level, and with the private sector and different organizations that own the data. A large success of the Tracking Network is building partnerships.

[Narrator] Faced with the unprecedented challenge of gathering environment and public health data from across the United States into one robust resource, CDC turned to a team of partners. The collaboration of federal agencies and national organizations positioned the Tracking Network to launch.

The National Environmental Health Association is another Tracking Network partner. Tom Dickey, the Assistant Manager of Research and Development, had more to say about how the partnership between his organization and CDC has advanced the field of environmental public health.

[Tom Dickey] Tracking has fostered a new found communication between various federal agencies, and state and local health departments. I think that the Tracking Network is going to provide a huge database of information for those that are seeking answers on, “Is this environmental cause? Is this something I should be concerned with?”

[Narrator] But why is the Tracking Network valuable to concerned parents, environmental advocates, and public health officials? Amanda Raziano, Health Policy Analyst from the American Public Health Association, talks about the value the Tracking Network will bring to communities, public health officials, and policymakers.

[Amanda Raziano] To take a quick look and be able to see, “Oh I see how the environment affects my health.” And look at a map, or look at some data, or some messaging information and better understand what’s going on. Or recognize why the science is complicated and why we don’t have the answers maybe to the questions that they’re asking.

[Narrator] As you heard from these three different organizations, the ability of many different groups to come together and build the Tracking Network has affected the future of environmental public health. Additional Tracking Network partners include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, U.S. Geological Survey, the National Cancer Institute, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, National Association of County and City Health Officials, National Association of Health Data Organizations, and the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems.

Together, CDC and its national and local partners are now providing public health officials and members of the public with information about how the environment affects public health.

Thanks for tuning in to this Tracks podcast on the importance of partnerships. Check out other episodes, including the Massachusetts Tracking Portal and New York City’s attempt to monitor rat populations using their own tracking portal.

The Environmental Public Health Tracking Network: collecting and connecting data to improve your health.

[Announcer] For the most accurate health information, visit www.cdc.gov or call 1-800-CDC-INFO, 24/7.