Healthy People 2010 will, for the first time, collect data from all states on a set of ten Leading Health Indicators. These indicators are believed to be most critical to the overall health of the nation. U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. David Satcher, stated at the January 2000 kickoff, that having leading health as well as leading economic indicators for this nation will elevate the importance of the health of our people.

Multilevel Focus
Healthy Arizona 2010, the state's Healthy People plan, will be coordinated through the Arizona Department of Health Services as a statewide initiative and will incorporate the participation of county and tribal health departments, the border communities, cities and towns, the faith community, schools and colleges, voluntary organizations, businesses and others.

Structure
Planning teams were developed around each of twelve focus areas, ten of which are Leading Health Indicators. Each team had an ADHS content expert and a business partner and added members to their team, drawing participants from around the state. Draft objectives developed by the planning teams were compiled into a draft plan and brought to six Arizona regions for public review and comment. After incorporating this input, the draft plan was shared with public health professionals in September 2000. The work of the teams was then to identify all the strategies that could be employed to reach the target objectives by 2010. Work performed by the state, counties, tribes and communities will all be counted in the Healthy Arizona 2010 effort. The mechanism for collecting community data will be through project registration. Throughout the state, local liaisons will be identified who will work with ADHS on tracking the efforts that are going on in their areas. These projects will be profiled on the ADHS website so that local successes can be shared and replicated.

Annually, a report card will be prepared on the progress of Healthy Arizona 2010 and data will also be available on the website.

Themes for Healthy Arizona 2010

• "Connecting the dots" - Throughout the state, there are a great many community coalitions working on health issues. The ADHS Healthy Communities office has in its database, more than 100 coalitions that work at the local level on more than one health issue. Identifying single-issue coalitions such as cancer, asthma, osteoporosis, etc. will result in a much broader local base. Most of these groups are already working on goals that can be aligned with specific Healthy Arizona 2010 objectives.
• People improve health through their behaviors - The greatest health challenges Americans face are more than ever related to lifestyle and day-to-day behavior. Reducing risk of disease requires increased physical activity, better nutrition, responsible sexual behavior, etc. While government programs can raise awareness of both health risks and successful interventions, change has to occur at the community and individual level. Community coalitions and partnerships can complement the programmatic efforts undertaken by public health practitioners.
• Disparities in health status are not acceptable - One of the overarching goals for Healthy People 2010 is eliminating health disparities. In Arizona there are striking disparities among racial and ethnic groups in areas such as diabetes, infant mortality and heart disease. In addition there are wide disparities in access to health care among rural and urban residents and families with low socioeconomic status. The difference in gender, not unique to Arizona, is reflected in a lifespan for men that is 7.4 years less than women. The focus on eliminating disparities will be part of the planning around each of the health indicators.
• Improving the health status of Arizonans is good for business - Healthy communities attract business. The health of their workers is a value to all Arizona employers. It therefore makes sense to invite the active participation of the business community. The Healthy Arizona 2010 design placed a business partner/sponsor on every planning team to provide support for problem solving, managing and marketing the team's work. Included are the natural health partners: hospitals and managed care organizations whose individual agendas are in many ways parallel to the Healthy People agenda.

Advisory Board
In order to elicit full support and participation from every sector, a Healthy Arizona 2010 Advisory Board was convened in December 2000, with representation from the governor's office, the legislature, counties, tribes, councils of government, state universities, the faith community, the media, and health care organizations. This Board, which has three working committees, will receive reports on each stage of plan implementation and will create opportunities to recognize outstanding work throughout the state.