American College Health Association - Task Force on National Health Objectives
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Healthy People 2010 and
Healthy Campus 2010
•Two overarching goals
Goal 1: Increase Quality and Years of Healthy Life - The first goal of Healthy People 2010 is to help individuals of all ages increase life expectancy and improve their quality of life.
Life Expectancy - Life expectancy is the average number of years people born in a given year are expected to live based on a set of age-specific death rates. At the beginning of the 20th century, life expectancy at birth was 47.3 years. Fortunately, life expectancy has increased dramatically over the past 100 years (see figure 1). Today, the average life expectancy at birth is nearly 77 years.
Life expectancy for persons at every age group also has increased during the past century. Based on today’s age-specific death rates, individuals aged 65 years can be expected to live an average of 18 more years, for a total of 83 years. Those aged 75 years can be expected to live an average of 11 more years, for a total of 86 years.
Differences in life expectancy between populations, however, suggest a substantial need and opportunity for improvement. At least 18 countries with populations of 1 million or more have life expectancies greater than the United States for both men and women (see figure 2).
There are substantial differences in life expectancy among different population groups within the United States. For example, women outlive men by an average of 6 years. White women currently have the greatest life expectancy in the United States. The life expectancy for African American women has risen to be higher today than that for white men. People from households with an annual income of at least $25,000 live an average of 3 to 7 years longer, depending on gender and race, than do people from households with annual incomes of less than $10,000.
Quality of Life - Quality of life reflects a general sense of happiness and satisfaction with our lives and environment. General quality of life encompasses all aspects of life, including health, recreation, culture, rights, values, beliefs, aspirations, and the conditions that support a life containing these elements. Health-related quality of life reflects a personal sense of physical and mental health and the ability to react to factors in the physical and social environments. Health-related quality of life is more subjective than life expectancy and therefore can be more difficult to measure. Some tools have been developed to measure health-related quality of life.
Global assessments, in which a person rates his or her health as “poor,” “fair,” “good,” “very good,” or “excellent,” can be reliable indicators of one’s perceived health. In 1996, 90 percent of people in the United States reported their health as good, very good, or excellent.
Healthy days is another measure of health-related quality of life that estimates the number of days of poor or impaired physical and mental health in the past 30 days. In 1998, adults averaged 5.5 days during the past month when their physical or mental health was not good—including 1.8 days when they were not able to do their usual activities. However, 52 percent of adults reported having good physical and mental health for the entire month in contrast with 10 percent of adults who were unhealthy for all 30 days. Typically, younger adults report more mentally unhealthy days while older adults report more physically unhealthy days.
Years of  healthy life is a combined measure developed for the Healthy People initiative. The difference between life expectancy and years of healthy life reflects the average amount of time spent in less than optimal health because of chronic or acute limitations. Years of healthy life increased in 1996 to 64.2 years, a level that was only slightly above the 64.0 years at the beginning of the decade. During the same period, life expectancy increased a full year.
As with life expectancy, various population groups can show dramatic differences in quality of life. For example, people in the lowest income households are five times more likely to report their health as fair or poor than people in the highest income households (see figure 3). A higher percentage of women report their health as fair or poor compared to men. Adults in rural areas are 36 percent more likely to report their health status as fair or poor than are adults in urban areas.
Achieving a Longer and Healthier Life—the Healthy People Perspective - Healthy People 2010 seeks to increase life expectancy and quality of life over the next 10 years by helping individuals gain the knowledge, motivation, and opportunities they need to make informed decisions about their health. At the same time, Healthy People 2010 encourages local and State leaders to develop communitywide and statewide efforts that promote healthy behaviors, create healthy environments, and increase access to high-quality health care. Because individual and community health are virtually inseparable, both the individual and the community need to do their parts to increase life expectancy and improve quality of life.