Our health is the result of several factors. The genes we inherit make us more or less susceptible to developing some diseases. Our choices, like what we eat or drink and how much exercise we get, affect our health as well. The environments we live, work, and play in also affect our health.
The environment is our air, water, and all of our natural and built surroundings. Environmental causes of diseases are often hard to identify. The KY Environmental Public Health Tracking (KY EPHT) program tries to better understand the environmental causes of disease by tracking environmental factors and health outcomes. Tracking is a type of health surveillance that includes how we collect, interpret, and report data about hazards in the environment, populations that may have been exposed to these hazards, and health problems that may be related to these exposures.
By establishing and maintaining KY EPHT as a part of the Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, the program can help gain valuable information about the health of our population and the environment. This information can then be used to guide intervention and policy to improve the places we live, work, and play and the health of our population across the commonwealth and nation.