Environmental Public Health Tracking Program

What is Environmental Public Health Tracking?

The environment — our air, water, food, homes, workplaces and communities — as well as the social and economic conditions where we live, work and play are important to our health. Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) is a CDC grant program for the ongoing collection, integration, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of data on environmental hazards, exposures to those hazards, and health effects that may be related to the exposures. The goal of tracking is to provide information and data that can be used to plan, apply, and evaluate actions to prevent and control environmentally related diseases.

Iowa is part of CDC's National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network. CDC provides funds to 25 states and 1 city to develop local tracking networks. These networks feed into the National Tracking Network.

Iowa has developed the Iowa Public Health Tracking portal as the state’s local tracking network. See all of our data on the Iowa Public Health Tracking Portal.

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Why is a Tracking Network needed?

The environment plays an important role in human development and health. Researchers have linked exposures to some environmental hazards with specific diseases. Prior to the development of the Tracking Network, no systems existed at the state or national level to track many of the exposures and health effects that may be related to environmental hazards. In addition, in most cases, existing environmental hazard, exposure, and disease tracking systems are not linked together. Because existing systems are not linked, it is difficult to study and monitor relationships among hazards, exposures, and health effects.