ALO 1: Healthy People 2020

1. What health topic did you choose? Why did you choose this health topic?
I chose cancer as my topic as it the second leading cause of death in the United States, and there
are members of my family who had cancer. It is an important topic to know about because there
are certain things people can do to lower their chances of getting cancer in the future.
Additionally, there are breakthroughs in research concerning cancer and what causes it and how
it can progress so fast. 1

2. What is the goal of your health topic? (Write out the entire goal, NOT the
objectives) How many objectives are listed for your health topic?
The goal by Healthy People 2020 for Cancer is to reduce the number of new cases as well as the
illness, disability, and death caused by cancer. There are 20 objectives for this topic, with many
of them targeting specific cancers, such as lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and prostate cancer.
Other objectives are regarding proportions, such as the proportion of women receiving breast
cancer screening or proportion of cancer survivors living 5 years or more.

3. What types of information are provided on your health topic?

In addition to the overview and objectives, there are Interventions and Resources. There is also a
graph on the “National Snapshot” tab that targets the lung cancer death count by 2020. It shows a
decrease, from the starting point of 2007.

4. What interventions or resources are available on your health topic?

In the interventions and resources tab, there are a number of links to outside sources. These
resources are valuable to cancer patients as there is information on types of testing,
medication/multivitamins to use, screenings, exercises (such as Yoga), interventions, counseling,
and client reminders.

5. How might a public health professional use these Healthy People 2020 objectives?
These objectives would be important to get a look into what should be getting done in the next
couple of years to reduce the cancer rates in the United States. And for right now, in 2020, it
would be useful to see what has changed, what hasn’t changed, and what can be done to achieve
higher goals for the next 10-20 years. If there wasn’t much of a decrease in cancer rates from the
starting point to 2020, then there should be more pressure to make changes that will. This might
mean emphasizing cancer screenings, or just emphasizing a healthier behavior in which people
take part in healthy activities and diet.

Bibliography:

1
https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/About-Healthy-People/How-To-Use-HealthyPeople.gov/Frequently-Asked-
Questions#cite
Healthy People 2020 [Internet]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Available from:
[https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/About-Healthy-People/How-To-Use-
HealthyPeople.gov/Frequently-Asked-Questions#cite].