Implementing the National Prevention Strategy: A discussion of successes and challenges to collaborating across sectors to achieve better health for all Americans

The Affordable Care Act  provides an unprecedented opportunity for prevention.  The ACA created the National Prevention Council and called for the development of the nation’s first National Prevention Strategy (NPS) to guide the nation in the most effective and achievable means for improving health and well-being. The session will open with remarks from the Director of the Office of the National Prevention Strategy, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. NPS implementation successes, lessons learned, and challenges will be presented from a national perspective. An outline of proposed topics for discussion across four NPS priority areas (healthy eating, mental and emotional well-being, reproductive and sexual health, and preventing drug abuse and excessive alcohol use) will be presented. Group discussion will inform the development of future technical assistance resources and tools needed to advance the NPS in community organizations, coalitions and other settings to achieve better health for all Americans. We are most interested in lessons learned and “on the ground / in the field” challenges and barriers to collaborating across sectors to integrate prevention and health. Participants will discuss one NPS priority area that addresses (but not be limited to) the following topics (a) building partnerships across sectors and diverse contexts (b) finding common ground, decision-making and power sharing (c) policy development at the local level (upstream and downstream issues and ripple effects); and (d) enhancing capacities, mutual learning and sustainability.