Arizona Tracking Program

Website: http://www.azdhs.gov/ephtexternal icon
Email: epht@azdhs.gov
Twitter: @AZDHS
Facebook: Arizona Department of Health Services

Mission:

The purpose of the Arizona (AZ) Tracking Program is to support conducting environmental health surveillance that guides public health actions to prevent or lessen the effects of environmental hazards in Arizona.

Quick Stats:

• Arizona is the sixth largest state by area, and has a diverse geography, from arid deserts to semi-arid mountainous regions.
• Arizona is home to 21 federally recognized Native American tribes, and about one-quarter of the state is tribal land.
• Arizona is prone to extreme weather hazards that impact public health, including extreme heat, wildfires, poor air quality from dust storms and wildfire smoke, and flash flooding during monsoon season.
• Arizona has 90,000 domestic registered wells, and water quality among unregulated water systems (i.e. private wells) is a primary environmental health concern. Heavy metals, such as arsenic, are common groundwater contaminants and prolonged exposure can lead to negative health effects.

Milestones:

Important events and achievements of the tracking program

Accomplishments:

Helping Improve Screening for Childhood Lead Poisoning: AZ Tracking collaborated with the AZ Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (CLPPP) to create a mapping applicationexternal icon to improve targeted screening of children who are higher risk of lead poisoning.  In the past, CLPPP used zip codes to indicate targeted areas; however, neighborhood and population characteristics can vary greatly in a zip code. Now, parents and health care providers can enter an address and receive that neighborhood’s screening recommendations at the census tract level. This tool improves accessibility to lead risk mapping, and improves health communication by providing screening recommendations at a more appropriate geographic scale.

More information:

Arizona Tracking Success Stories