The Louisiana Department of Health’s Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, or Tracking, is committed to providing all Louisianans with better health data. For the past 10 years, the Tracking team has collaborated with LDH’s Bureau of Health Informatics and other partners to develop, launch and enhance the Department’s Health Data Portal (Data Explorer). The Data Explorer is a web-based tool that makes environmental, health outcomes, population and exposure data and information accessible to municipalities, college students and researchers, community-based organizations, policy makers and other end users. Data and information from the online data and mapping tool can be used to support funding, policies, programs and other public health actions to improve the communities’ health.
Funding from the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has made the Tracking Program
possible. Since the program’s inception in 2009, the staff have worked with
their federal, state and local partners to collect and evaluate data on
important environmental health issues affecting Louisiana’s communities. Within
the past six years, over 25 organizations have requested data and information
from LDH Tracking’s team to inform local and state decision-makers and
community members, to identify and address local public health issues, and to
support funding to understand the connections between the environment and health.
Recently, LDH Tracking and its partners upgraded the
Department’s Data Explorer, which included many datasets and updates, a major accomplishment
following the agency response to COVID-19 2020-21. Now the tool includes childhood
blood lead data, sub-parish cancer data and more current occupational health
data. Because climate change is a concern in Louisiana, the team has also added
new temperature, drought and rainfall data to the Data Explorer. Stay tuned — more
updates and site enhancements are on the way!
This summer, LDH’s Tracking team will be collaborating with
the CDC and its partners to celebrate Tracking Awareness Week. The theme of
this year’s event, which will be observed from July 12-16, is “Powered by
Tracking.” Because Tracking is more than a data warehouse, the staff will be
highlighting the program’s successes that go beyond data hosted on the Data
Explorer on the Department’s Facebook and Twitter channels.
The program would like to wish everyone a Happy Tracking
Awareness Week. LDH Tracking has been successful because of its hard-working
and dedicated staff and loyal partners. The Tracking team wants to engage
additional partners in the program. Email LDH Tracking at tracking@la.gov to learn more the program and
to discuss collaborating with the team.
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