ODPHP Director

In observance of Healthy Aging Month, Patricia D’Antonio, Executive Director for the National Center to Reframe Aging recently joined ODPHP Director Paul Reed for a discussion on the myriad ways we encounter, and even perpetuate, ageism in our everyday lives, and the importance of dispelling negative public perceptions of older adulthood and revisiting aging as not something that we “arrive at”, but rather a continuous process that we experience throughout our lifecycle.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (the Guidelines) provides advice on what to eat and drink to meet nutrient needs, promote health, and prevent disease. To ensure the Guidelines continues to meet the health needs of all, we who support the development process earnestly ask for participation and feedback from those in the fields of nutrition and public health, and – just as importantly – the public at large.

Healthy People 2030, tracks 8 Overall Health and Well-Being Measures (OHMs). Each represents a global outcome measure intended to assess the trajectory toward the Healthy People 2030 vision. OHM-01, the new well-being measure, is expressed as overall life satisfaction and reflects cumulative contributions of health and non-health factors. Now that the baseline for this measure of overall well-being is established, we can begin to evolve our understanding of it, and others like it and explore their implications more fully.

The declaration of the COVID-19  public health emergency officially ends on May 11, 2023. This moment reflects the progress that has been made throughout the acute phase of the pandemic – including decreasing rates of deaths and hospitalizations. Still, many challenges continue. As we transition to the next chapter of public health, it’s imperative that we carry forward and apply all that we have learned from the past few years to ensure optimal recovery, improved health and well-being, equity, and enhanced resilience.