Health policy and the family: Agenda for the year 2000.

Abstract

Efforts are under way in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop national health objectives for the year 2000. A follow-up to objectives originally generated from the 1979 surgeon general's report, Healthy People and Promoting Health/Preventing Disease: Objectives for the Nation, the new objectives will guide federal policy through the year 2000. The authors of this article identify three prevalent and significant health problems for which little progress has been made and suggest that the new objectives must address the family as a significant context and contributor to these problems.

Family health science and the new generalist practitioner.

“…It is our belief that this rapidly expanding Family Health Science knowledge base should serve as the educational core for the training of future generalist health care professionals. An understanding of the family systems/life-cycle context of care is crucial if we are to have an impact on the 22 major priority areas identified in Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives (14, 16). These include: physical activity, nutrition, tobacco use, the use of alcohol and other drugs, family planning, mental health and mental disorders, violent and abusive behavior, education and community-based programs, unintentional injuries, occupational safety and health, food and drug safety, oral health, maternal and infant health, heart disease and stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic disabling conditions, human immunodeficiency virus infection, sexually transmitted diseases, immunization and infectious diseases, and clinical preventive services.…”