TOPEKA – Today, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) published the Healthy Kansans 2030 State Health Assessment (SHA) and State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP), marking the conclusion of an 18-month-long initiative to move the health of Kansans in a positive direction. A nearly yearlong State Health Assessment included the analysis of 130 health indicators and a concentration on key issues gathered though a statewide survey, focus groups and interviews. The Healthy Kansans 2030 Steering Committee chose four priorities to be the focus of the 2023-2027 State Health Improvement Plan:
- Improve inequities in health and health outcomes.
- Improve access to care, including behavioral health.
- Improve conditions that facilitate healthy behaviors and health literacy.
- Improve public health funding.
These priorities became the framework the SHIP Planning Committee used to create the goals, strategies and actions that will be pursued over the next five years.
“The State Health Improvement Plan is a companion plan to the State Health Assessment and was built by engaging with communities and organizations around the state” said Janet Stanek, Secretary of KDHE. “The focus of the implementation effort will be to identify and recruit local health departments, health organizations and other community leaders to directly support this work and to adopt the priorities, goals and strategies in the SHIP as focus areas for the work they do in the communities they serve.”
A link is provided on the KDHE website for others to engage and get involved. Updates on the process will be included in future issues of Public Health Connections, on the agency website (kdhe.ks.gov) and through public press releases.
To learn more about the State Health Assessment and Improvement Plan, visit: https://kdhe.ks.gov/201/11681/
Updates on the process will be included in future issues of Public Health Connections, on the agency website and through press releases.