New York State Environmental Public Health Tracking imageEnvironmental Public Health Tracking

New York's Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) Program focuses on tracking environmental and health patterns and trends. Environmental Public Health Tracking is a national program led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is intended to improve access to environmental health information and support research, programs and policies that may help protect our communities.

About Tracking

Tracking helps to understand how hazards in the environment, exposures to these hazards, and diseases change over time or across regions. Tracking might also help answer questions about the complex relationship between the environment and health. View the Glossary for help with Tracking terminology. View a full listing of peer-reviewed Tracking publications.

New York State, New York City and 24 other states and are part of the national Environmental Public Health Tracking Network. Through thoughtful application of these data, consumers and communities may be empowered to take action to promote health and well-being within their communities.

Tracking is an important tool in environmental health and public health. It can be used to:

  • Respond to inquires about environmental hazards, exposures or health conditions.
  • Identify unusual patterns and trends.
  • Develop or evaluate public health programs, regulations or policies.
  • Identify data quality issues and improve data.
  • Explore relationships between environmental hazards and health outcomes.
  • Generate hypotheses for research.
  • Provide data to researchers for studies and environmental health investigations.

Tracking alone can't tell us if something in the environment is causing a disease or health condition in most cases.

Researchers can use Tracking data to identify trends and patterns and to pose questions for further research. So, a map showing disease rates, for example, is more likely a starting point. If we see major differences, we may pose additional questions such as:

  • Are rates higher in any particular age or race/ethnicity group? Does the geographic pattern vary by age or race/ethnicity group?
  • Do other factors correspond with higher disease rates? For example, are disease rates different in urban areas or rural areas? What about areas with higher or lower income or education?
  • What about changes in disease rates over time? Maps are good for identifying geographical differences, but not so good at showing changes over time. Graphing disease over time may show if the rates are consistently getting higher or lower. Do rates vary from year to year? Are there seasonal effects within each year?
  • What do we know from the scientific literature about factors that influence this disease? How do these factors vary geographically and over time?

The answers to some of these questions may lead us closer to understanding why some areas have higher disease rates than others. Or, they may help us identify where we need more information.

The Tracking program puts data and tools in the hands of people who help protect New York communities. Tracking partners include scientists, information technology specialists, environmental scientists, statisticians, policy makers, educators, healthcare experts, state and local government officials, advocates, academia and members of the public who use data to better understand the complex relationship between the environment and human health.

Tracking also brings together federal and state agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States Environmental Protection Agency, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and other state health and environmental agencies to focus on common goals and share data, technical guidance, and assistance. These partnerships are key to meeting today's and tomorrow's environmental health challenges.

Other Environmental Public Health Tracking Programs

 

Tracking Projects Explore the Connections Between Health and the Environment

New York State has several projects that focus on combining environmental, health, and other data to explore possible relationships between environmental hazards and health effects. These projects look for geographic patterns, clusters, or trends over time. This work helps to promote a healthy and safe environment, a key priority of the New York State Health Department Health Improvement Plan.

New York State's Tracking Program partners with many other organizations to assess the health and community impacts of heat and extreme weather. Partners include New York State's Climate and Health Program, local health departments and emergency managers, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the Department of Environmental Conservation, the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Weather Service, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Tracking Program continues developing climate/health-related indicators and promoting messages to increase awareness about the potential health impacts of climate change. The Tracking Program maintains an online directory to help New Yorkers find local cooling centers during periods of extreme heat. It also provides county-specific heat vulnerability reports, and County Heat and Health Profile Reports that use fine-scale estimates of temperature from NASA to explore the impacts of heat on health in each New York State County.

The Tracking Program provides ongoing assistance to New York State's Childhood Lead Program. Projects include providing technical support for statistical analyses and mapping activities, and partnering on the review and update of lead soil standards in New York State.

The Tracking Program is currently developing local level (sub-county) environmental and health indicators.  Sub-county level data provide insights into variations of environmental, exposure, health, and population patterns and trends within a county, which may be useful to help identify health disparities and opportunities for outreach and intervention. The Tracking Program's Heat Vulnerability Index and County Heat and Health Profile Reports are examples of how sub-county data can help communities understand trends and identify populations with highest vulnerability to heat and heat-related illness.

Read about the Tracking Program's work to provide tools and resources that help partners identify patterns and trends, and deliver programs that improve environmental health.

Timely Topics

Heat Risk and Illness Dashboard

Image of thermometer showing 100 degrees with tree in background

The new Heat Risk and Illness Dashboard provides a heat risk seven-day forecast, recent heat related emergency department visits and emergency medical service calls and more information by county. This dashboard can be used by emergency planners and public health educators to activate extreme heat operations.

Coastal Beach Water Quality

Image of beach on Lake Erie

The Coastal Beach Water Quality Map provides the latest information on water quality monitoring and public notification activities at coastal beaches located along the Great Lakes (Lake Erie and Lake Ontario), Long Island Sound, and the Atlantic Ocean. The map can be promoted to the public so they have the latest information on beach closures and monitoring.

Outdoor Air and Health

Image of older man and child sitting on dock outside

As people spend more time outside during the warmer weather, it is important that they understand outdoor air and health. This page provides information on when outdoor air is unhealthy, information on air quality alerts, and recommendations for specific populations.

Tracking Awareness Week

Illustration of hiker looking out at mountain and waterfall

For over 20 years, CDC’s Environmental Public Health Tracking has been used to empower people to understand the connection between health and environment. During Tracking Awareness Week, you can learn about our data, projects, and partnerships and how they empower people to make information-driven decisions that affect their health. Although the future of Tracking is uncertain, public health and public health professionals are resilient! We will continue to grow and adapt to a changing world to continue our mission of connecting people with data!