Summary of Progress

Healthy People 2010 is a comprehensive, national health promotion and disease prevention agenda.¹ It is a roadmap for improving the health of all people in the United States during the first decade of the 21st century. This midcourse review provides an opportunity to assess the progress that has been made during the first half of the decade. This assessment is based on 467 objectives and 2 overarching goals:

• Goal 1: Increase quality and years of healthy life
• Goal 2: Eliminate health disparities

Healthy People Objectives

Through the midcourse review, the status of 467 specific objectives in 28 focus areas was assessed. One hundred forty-two of these objectives consist of two or more subobjectives that identify specific aspects of an objective (such as types of vaccines and types of air pollutants). Altogether, there are 955 objectives and subobjectives. Baseline values were established for each objective and subobjective with data at the beginning of the decade, and specific targets were set to be achieved by the year 2010. Progress was assessed for objectives and subobjectives with tracking data (that is, with baseline data and data more recent than the baseline) as of January 2005. More recent data are monitored as they become available. The DATA2010 database has been updated since January 2005; these data are not reflected in this midcourse review.

The status of the 467 objectives as of January 2005 is shown on the left side of Figure 1. Based on an evaluation of each objective and comments received from the public as part of the midcourse review process, 28 objectives were deleted because data were not available or because of a change in science. As of January 2005, tracking data were not available to assess progress for 158 objectives (34 percent of the total). Baseline data were not available, but are anticipated by the end of the decade, for 87 of these objectives. Timely availability of data continues to be an issue in monitoring the health of the Nation.

Figure 1.  Healthy People 2010 Objectives: Status at the Midcourse
and Summary of Progress Toward Target Attainment

View text version of Figure 1.

Progress can be assessed for the 281 objectives with tracking data available (right side of Figure 1):

• Twenty-nine objectives (10 percent) met the target.
• One hundred thirty-eight objectives (49 percent) moved toward the target.
• Forty objectives (14 percent) demonstrated mixed progress because they included subobjectives that moved both toward and away from the target.
• Seventeen objectives (6 percent) demonstrated no change from the baseline.
• Fifty-seven objectives (20 percent) moved away from the target..

In Figure 2 and Table 1, similar assessments are shown for each of the 28 focus areas. In all focus areas, there are some objectives that met, exceeded, or moved toward the target. In Cancer (Focus Area 3), Diabetes (Focus Area 5), Immunization and Infectious Diseases (Focus Area 14), and Occupational Safety and Health (Focus Area 20), more than half of the objectives met or moved toward their targets. The proportion of objectives that could not be assessed is relatively large in Environmental Health (Focus Area 8), Health Communication (Focus Area 11), Public Health Infrastructure (Focus Area 23), and Vision and Hearing (Focus Area 28). Progress for objectives in each focus area is discussed further in the focus area chapters of this report.

Figure 2.  Healthy People 2010 Objectives:
Status at the Midcourse by Focus Area

Table 1.  Healthy People 2010 Objectives: 
Summary of Progress for Each Focus Area

Objectives and Subobjectives

Of the 955 objectives and subobjectives, a total of 67 objectives and subobjectives were dropped at the midcourse, and 381 objectives and subobjectives lacked tracking data. On the right side of Figure 3, progress is assessed for the 507 objectives and subobjectives with data at the baseline and data for the most recent data point available in the Healthy People data system as of January 2005:

• Three hundred fifty-six objectives and subobjectives (70 percent) met, exceeded, or moved toward the target.

• Seventy objectives and subobjectives (14 percent) met the target.

• Two hundred eighty-six objectives and subobjectives (56 percent) moved toward the target.

• Thirty-eight objectives and subobjectives (8 percent) demonstrated no change.

• One hundred thirteen objectives and subobjectives (22 percent) moved away from the target.

Figure 3.  Healthy People 2010 Objectives and Subobjectives: 
Status at the Midcourse and Summary of Progress Toward Attainment

View text version of Figure 3.

In Figure 4 and Table 2, similar assessments are shown for objectives and subobjectives combined for each of the 28 focus areas.

Figure 4.  Healthy People 2010 Objectives and Subobjectives:
Status at the Midcourse by Focus Area

Table 2.  Healthy People 2010 Objectives and Subobjectives: 
Summary of Progress for Each Focus Area

Population Groups

In Figure 5, progress is assessed for specific populations. This assessment is limited to population-based objectives and subobjectives with tracking data for populations. It does not include nonpopulation-based objectives and subobjectives, such as those based on States, worksites, or a number of events as the target. The number of objectives and subobjectives with tracking data varies according to the characteristic. For Healthy People 2010, all population-based objectives are monitored by race and ethnicity, but the availability of data for specific racial and ethnic populations varies. Gender comparisons are not applicable to all population-based objectives and subobjectives because some apply only to females or males. When possible, population-based objectives are also monitored either by education or by income as a measure of socioeconomic status. Geographic location and disability status are optional characteristics included for monitoring selected objectives and subobjectives (see Tracking Healthy People 2010 , Part A-4, at www.healthypeople.gov/document/html/tracking/thp_parta.htm#population template). For each population, the number of objectives and subobjectives is shown for each of the following: moved away from the target, demonstrated no change, moved toward the target, and met or exceeded the target. Because a single target was set for all populations, there are some instances where a population met the Healthy People 2010 target at the baseline. The numbers of these objectives and subobjectives are shown separately in Table 3.

Figure 5. Summary of Progress for Objectives and Subobjectives
With Tracking Data for Each Population Group

Table 3. Number of Objectives and Subobjectives With Tracking Data
According to the Progress Quotient for Population Groups

In general, the number of population-based objectives and subobjectives that moved toward the target or for which the target was met at baseline exceeds the number that moved away from the target. For the American Indian or Alaska Native population, for example, 87 objectives and subobjectives moved toward their respective targets, while 41 moved away. This population demonstrated no change between the baseline and the most recent data point for 10 objectives and subobjectives (Table 3). The number of objectives and subobjectives that moved toward the target or met the target at baseline exceeds the number that moved away from the target by a ratio of at least 2-to-1 for all but the following: the Asian or Pacific Islander population, the Asian population, the Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander population, persons identifying with two or more races, persons with less than a high school education, high school graduates, and persons in both the poor and near-poor income groups. For the Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander population, there were more objectives and subobjectives that moved away from the target (19) than moved toward the target (15).

In Table 3, a progress quotient is used to quantify the degree of progress toward or away from the target for those population-based objectives and subobjectives with tracking data. The progress quotient measures the percent of targeted change that has been achieved. The baseline value, the most recent value, and the target are used to compute the progress quotient. (See the Technical Appendix for a detailed discussion of the progress quotient.) A progress quotient of 50 percent, for example, indicates that the difference between the baseline and the target has been reduced by 50 percent or by one-half. A progress quotient greater than 100 percent indicates that the target has been exceeded. Negative progress quotients indicate that the change from the baseline is away from the target. The progress quotient for each objective and subobjective with data more recent than the baseline is shown in the focus area chapters of this report. Differences between populations and changes in differences between the baseline and the most recent data point are examined in the section discussing Goal 2, the elimination of disparities among populations.