ANCHORAGE — The statewide collaborative initiative Healthy Alaskans 2020 released “Healthy Alaskans 2020 Health Assessment: Understanding the Health of Alaskans” today, along with two documents highlighting the state’s 25 leading health indicators and the process of setting priorities. You can find these documents at www.ha2020.alaska.gov.

The 2020 Health Assessment presents information about population characteristics, social and economic factors, health outcomes, and health equity issues in Alaska. The assessment, along with a book of health indicators and an indicator scorecard, was created over the past two years during the process of prioritizing 25 Alaska health goals for the decade. A series of teams — including an advisory team of representatives from agencies, organizations and communities from around Alaska with an expertise in health and Alaska —were involved in the process. 

“This is a great resource and testament to the collaborative nature of Healthy Alaskans 2020,” said Lisa D.H. Aquino, co-coordinator of Healthy Alaskans 2020 and the community health improvement manager for the Alaska Division of Public Health. “It reflects the work and input of partners statewide — a partnership that is essential for reaching the 25 health goals for the decade. The work continues as the teams and other experts create a plan to reach these goals.”

Healthy Alaskans 2020 is sponsored by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Public Health Improvement Initiative. Healthy Alaskans 2020 provides a framework to support the work of partners and stakeholders statewide. The steps to building this framework have included completing this assessment, prioritizing 25 health objectives and targets for the decade, and identifying strategies and actions to reach those targets.

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