Tracking Terminology

Environmental public health tracking is the ongoing collection, integration, analysis, and interpretation of data about

• environmental hazards
• exposure to environmental hazards
• health effects potentially related to exposure to environmental hazards.

The Environmental Public Health Tracking Program consists of a network of people (i.e., individuals and organizations) with responsibilities in protecting public health, which enable a network of information systems (i.e., data systems and Web-based data query tools).

CDC hosts a dynamic, web-based data system called the Environmental Public Health Tracking Network. The Tracking Network brings together health data and environment data from a number of credible sources and provides supporting information to make the data easier to understand. CDC funds health departments in 25 states and 1 city to build and implement local tracking networks. These state and local data systems feed into the national Tracking Network.