Sunday, May 11, 2025
5/11/2025
Modernizing Environmental Public Health Tracking to Advance Environmental Health Surveillance - The Maine Environmental Public Health Tracking Program (EPHT) is proposing to build on 20 years of successful development and implementation of the Maine Tracking Network to enhance, expand, and modernize our already robust collection of environmental public health indicators and data, expand available data for assessing environmental health impacts and associated health disparities and inequities, build staff capacity and expertise, and offer technical assistance and data visualization support to partners and stakeholders in order to further build environmental health surveillance capacity in Maine and nationally. Broadly, funding will be used to: 1) expand data offerings to include more content areas, with more data and information made available on health disparities and inequity, at finer geospatial and temporal scales; 2) improve efficiencies, especially around display generation; 3) complete an in-progress portal upgrade and conversion to a Tableau-based platform for more efficient, flexible, and modern data visualization; 4) increase our understanding of our user base to improve access, use, and equity; 5) continue to contribute to the national Tracking network by routinely providing nationally consistent data and measures and participating on national work groups; and 6) continue to develop and expand staff skills, program capacity, and partnerships to create a broader, stronger, more flexible Tracking network across the state. Specific key tasks include the development of new displays of per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substance (PFAS) data, wastewater surveillance data, and environmental justice data; improved reporting of survey data by race, ethnicity, income, and other factors; a formal mentoring relationship with the City of Portland Public Health Department around Tracking principles; strategic planning for better surveillance, data, and activities to support climate and health, Tribal, and cancer cluster needs and outcomes; and the launch of a ‘Tracking on Demand’ service for key partners to provide on-the-fly data displays by request for rapid response. These activities will result in appropriate, accurate data becoming increasingly available and accessible to Maine EPHT staff, partners, stakeholders, and the general public. This increased availability, together with improved identification, monitoring, and addressing of environmental justice inequities and health disparities, will result in the increased use of public health data among public health and environmental professionals to develop and deliver data-informed programs, prioritized interventions, and policies to address environmental public health issues. In the long-term, it is expected that these activities and outcomes will result in reduced environmental exposures and related health effects, as well as reduced environmental inequities and health disparities.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).