Overarching Goals For Healthy People 2020

For many people, not everyone knows of the nationally recognized group Healthy People. This organization's known as a program of nationwide health promotion and disease-prevention goals set by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The goals were first set in 1979, for the following decade. These goals subsequently have been updated for Healthy People 2000, 2010, and 2020. In 2010, the two overarching goals that happened to be the primary targets for Healthy People included increasing the years of a healthy life, while the other goal wanted to eliminate health disparities. For 2020, the overarching objectives Healthy People moved towards are related to Fitness and Physical Activity. Healthy People wants to improve health,
fitness, and quality of life through daily physical activity. and wanting to Improve the quantity and quality of healthy Americans by at least 10% across the country. With health being a major dilemma in this country; there is no surprise when in fact that there is more than 80% of legal adults who do not meet the average guidelines of aerobic and muscle strengthening exercises while more than 80% of children do nowhere near enough physical activity to come close to specific guidelines. As a result, unnecessary illnesses and diseases such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, depression, anxiety, ECT. occur at an alarming rate. With this in mind, Healthy people have three objectives that are in place to help control this dilemma and try to find a way to improve in order to create an overall healthy America. The first Healthy people 2020 National Objective is to “reduce the proportion of adults who engage in no leisure-time physical activity.” (Healthy People 2020) This may seem to be a simple concept; and some people will say that it is the person's responsibility to own up to their own mistakes and that they are the ones who need to take action in order to save their own lives, but they could not be more wrong.
The community can do so many things that can make the first step more easier for people who need to take that first step. It can be as easy as having a few free or low-cost fitness classes at a local gym, clean up the surrounding parks so that people are not afraid after dark; set up recreational sports in the community that anyone and everyone can join, getting people involved with helping their neighbor can not only help the people who need it the most, but those who help will also feel a sense of
accomplishment. Now it cannot just be the community doing all the work to help others become more healthier, there has to be accountability from the individual who must keep him or herself in check and actually do the work. Anything is possible if you set goals, schedule correctly, be patient, and share your success. Any daily activity can be used as physical activity; such as walking the dog, taking stairs instead of using the elevator, bike to work if it is a reasonable distance away, park farther away from the store instead of trying to get a front row spot, even cleaning the house can be physical activity. Personal responsibility can be the difference in either being healthy, or not. The second objective that Healthy People 2020 describe is to “Increase the number of States with licensing regulations for physical activity provided in child care.” (Healthy People 2020) This objective can more than likely be the easiest of the four to accomplish in the shortest amount of time.
With more and more children being left at day care, states can use this opportunity to test new ideas on how to teach young children a healthier life style. Since children will observe the information much more effectively than adults the lessons that they learn from a young age will follow them; and as they age, the more knowledge they will know making the choice for having a healthier much more easier than if they did not get the
information. The third and final objective that Healthy People 2020 offer is to “Increase the daily physical activity for public and private schools in the nation as well as increase the recess time for elementary schools.” (Healthy People 2020) Like the objective before, this can be easily adopted and implemented in schools across the country; yet with more and more emphasis on standardize testing and with more and more schools cutting their physical education programs from their curriculum, it is no surprise that more and more children becoming obese and many of who will suffer from diseases that can be fatal if the problem is not stopped. This being said, everyone in the school must be on board with teaching health to the students. Teachers now need to "promote physical activity in class room" (Rowan University PPT), while also "teaching students how to stay active outside of school" (Rowan University PPT), schools need to "maintain a strong and interesting physical education program." (Rowan University PPT) If more schools would worry about the health of their students instead of worrying if they can meet their quota on grades, then maybe there will be less underage obesity in America and could also lead to less health related deaths in the country. Healthy People are the forerunners in the fight against health related problem in this country, and the success stories that are coming from around the country is a sign that whatever they are doing, is working. The success cannot just come from talking about it and saying that this needs to happen. No, success will come from trial and error and the continued effort of millions of Americans that will ensure that the goals of Healthy People 2020 be met and the Americans will live a better quality life.