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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Randall Sell, ScD, Mailman School of Public Health, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, 722 West 168th Street, Suite 1119, New York, NY 10032, 212-305-3457, rls39@columbia.edu and George de Stefano, HIV Prevention Program, New York City Department of Health, 125 Worth Street, New York, NY 10013.
In June of 2001, the New York City Department of Health convened the Gay Men's Health Promotion Task Force. The task force, comprised of 26 health experts from within the Department of Health and from the community, was charged with developing an implementation plan to improve the health of gay men in areas beyond HIV/AIDS. This was one of the first times a task force focusing on the health of gay men was ever convened by a department of health in the United States.
The task force identified six areas of concern including: hepatitis A/B; sexually transmitted diseases other than HIV; substance abuse; mental health; violence; and tobacco use. The task force examined these issues and structured its recommendations through four cross cutting lenses: policy and planning; education, training and clinical practice; public information and social marketing; and research, epidemiology and surveillance. The task force also made general recommendations in areas such as health care access and regulatory standards. Detailed rationales were created for each of the task force recommendations.
The final report and implementation plan is scheduled for completion and release in the spring of 2002. This presentation will discuss the structure and functioning of the task force so other cities can learn from and replicate this process. The presentation will also summarize the task force recommendations, which, while developed to address the health of gay men in New York City, are applicable to and can be implemented by departments of health across the United States.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to
Keywords: Gay Men, Public Policy
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.