Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials represents the public health agencies of all 50 states in the United States, the District of Columbia, the five U.S. territories, and the three freely associated states. ASTHO members, the chief health officials in each of these jurisdictions, formulate and influence public health policy and work to protect and promote good health in the populations they serve.
Purpose
ASTHO assists state health agencies by collecting and disseminating promising public health practices, facilitating or directly providing technical assistance, and providing opportunities for state health agency staff to learn from each other.
Vision
Healthy people thriving in a nation free of preventable illness and injury.
The origin of health officials from the states getting together to discuss matters of public health concern that spanned state boundaries is the organization and first meeting of the Sanitary Council of the Mississippi Valley in 1879, a meeting to address limiting the spread of yellow fever and cholera outbreaks. In 1903, the U.S. Surgeon General began convening an annual meeting of state health officers to discuss controlling yellow fever and other diseases prevalent at the time. After the Social Security Act of 1935 specified appropriations to states for the purpose of public health, state public health officers saw the need for a more formal organization, leading to the incorporation of ASTHO on March 23, 1942.
Governance
ASTHO is governed by a board of directors comprised by five executive officers and ten regional representatives, as well as four nonvoting, ex-officio members representing important constituents. The board receives input from the following committees, most of which include a mix of state health officials, state health agency department heads, and other public health leaders: Senior Deputies Committee, Affiliate Council, Access Policy Committee, eHealth Policy Committee, Environmental Health Policy Committee, Infectious Disease Policy Committee, Performance Policy Committee, Preparedness Policy Committee, Prevention Policy Committee, and Government Relations Policy Committee.
Recent Publications
Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: How States Can Help Advance the Knowledge Base for Primary Prevention and Best Practices of Care — A policy primer giving an array of strategies and examples for state health agencies to deal with babies being born addicted to opioids.
2014 State Legislative and Regulatory Prospectus — A report examining trends in pre-filed, public health-related bills filed in state legislatures including regulation of compounding pharmacies, drug shortages, and violence prevention
Making the Case for Infectious Disease Infrastructure — A communications toolkit funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that stresses the importance of state health agencies' ability to quickly detect and respond to infectious diseases.
Role of the State and Territorial Health Official in Promoting Health Equity — A report explaining how state health agencies can promote a health equity agenda across agency programs and throughout state government.
