FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — July 14, 2022
Media Contact: Brookie Crawford, brookie.crawford@vdh.virginia.gov
During Tracking Awareness Week, Virginia Department of Health Receives Grant to Create New Virginia Environmental Health Tracking Program
RICHMOND, VA – The Virginia Department of Health’s (VDH) announced today, during Tracking Awareness Week, that it received a grant from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to create an environmental epidemiology program.
Starting in August, VDH will receive $635,000 per year for five years to build environmental epidemiology in the Commonwealth through the creation of a new Virginia Environmental Health Tracking Program (VEHTP).
“This grant is a big win for VDH,” said State Health Commissioner Colin M. Greene, MD, MPH. “It will allow us to develop environmental epidemiology capacity that will help VDH identify and address environmental exposures and hazards in Virginia, and environmental effects on population health.”
This program will track environmental hazards, environmental exposures and environmental health effects to increase understanding of how environmental factors impact the health, health inequities and lives of Virginians.
VDH will perform timely analyses using standardized and integrated data sources to identify, monitor, and address health issues arising from or directly related to environmental factors in local communities and across Virginia statewide.
This program will track indicators such as air quality, asthma, birth defects, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lead poisoning, community drinking water quality, heart attacks, and infant mortality.
VDH will be forming a steering committee to help guide the development and focus of the new program.
For more information, please contact the Office of Family Health Services, Division of Population Health Data at population.health@vdh.virginia.gov.
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