Drs. Rosay and Rivera picked as co-conveners for Healthy Alaskans 2020 workgroup

Dr. André Rosay, Justice Center Director, and Dr. Marny Rivera, Justice faculty, have been selected as co-conveners for the Healthy Alaskans 2020 Strategy Workgroup responsible for identifying key strategies and actions steps related to reducing the:

• rate of child maltreatment, 
• rate of rape, and 
• percentage of adolescents who were ever physically hurt on purpose by their boyfriend or girlfriend.

Drs. Rosay and Rivera will be working with content experts over the next several months and will facilitate the discussion and activities of this workgroup.  Results from all the Healthy Alaskans 2020 Workgroups will be submitted by April 2014.

Other UAA participants in the Healthy Alaskans 2020 project include College of Health Dean Bill Hogan, a past member of the Healthy Alaskans 2020 Advisory Team, and Dr. David Driscoll, Director of the Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies, the 2014 UAA representative on the team. The advisory team has been key in establishing the vision, mission, and values of the project; prioritizing health goals; and in 2014 will be finalizing actions for success to reach those goals.

Healthy Alaskans 2020 is a joint effort of the state of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC). Together they have identified 25 Leading Health Indicators — a list of critical health priorities for Alaska.

The 25 leading health indicators include reducing the rates of cancer, suicide, and interpersonal violence and sexual assault. The indicators provide a science-based framework for identifying public health priorities and are designed to guide efforts in Alaska over the next decade to improve health and ensure health equity for all Alaskans.

Selecting the indicators is a collaborative effort among a wide spectrum of partners statewide and was both data‑ and community-driven and involves teams of expert reviewing Alaska-specific quantitative data related to a broad range of health factors. To establish the 25 indicators, the teams look at information gathered from subject matter experts, and input from two public statewide surveys conducted in the fall of 2012 and the spring of 2013.