Guam Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS): Impact on Population Health, 2024 to 2029 - The Guam Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is a telephone health survey in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services (DPHSS). The survey is randomly administered to non-institutionalized civilian adults 18 years old and older who are living in a household with a landline or mobile phone. All information collected are completely anonymous. The Guam BRFSS has been conducted since 1997. The Program is under the Bureau of Non-Communicable Disease under the Division of Public Health at the Guam DPHSS. The primary goal of Guam BRFSS is to collect, analyze, and interpret locally relevant data on risk behaviors and preventive health measures for use in planning, implementing, and measuring the progress of risk-reduction programs, and for developing policies and legislation. The Guam BRFSS provides baseline and trend data for planning intervention projects and measuring progress toward goals and objectives. The data used in the preparation of grant applications for funding programs such as the Non-Communicable Disease Prevention, Guam Diabetes Prevention and Control Program, Tobacco Prevention and Control Program, Guam Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, Guam Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, the Guam Office of Minority Health, Guam's Initiative to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities Grant; and Capacity Building for COVID Response and Resilient Communities Grant. The data is also used to fund special programs such as the Guam Hypertension and Stroke Prevention and Control Program, Getting Guam Healthy Incentive Program, breast, colorectal, and cervical cancer screenings, and more. Users of these data include healthcare organizations, advocacy groups, public health professionals and organizations at the local, state, and national levels, academic professors and students, and the general public. There is an increasing demand for the system to generate more data and information, indicating that the Guam BRFSS remains a critical tool for public health action.
