Maryland Tracking Program
Website: https://phpa.health.maryland.gov/oehfp/eh/tracking/Pages/home.aspxExternal
Email: mdh.envhealth@maryland.gov
Goal:
The Maryland (MD) Tracking Program aims to:
- Provide useful environmental and health data to protect, promote and improve the health and well-being of all Marylanders and their families, giving special attention to at-risk and vulnerable populations.
- Assist agencies in planning, implementing and evaluating public health actions with relevant and meaningful data
- Educate and train community members on potential linkages between environmental factors and health conditions
Milestones:
Important events and achievements of the tracking program
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2002
Maryland Tracking Program established with CDC funding
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2008
Launched the MD Tracking Network siteExternal
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2010
Analyzed data and issued a reportCdc-pdfExternal finding no evidence of cancer clusters in Poolesville, MD
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2011
Completed report to the state legislatureCdc-pdfExternal investigating the feasibility of biomonitoring of Maryland’s residents
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2011
Conducted cancer InvestigationCdc-pdfExternal in Frederick, MD and concludes no evidence of clustering exists
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2014
Investigated potential public health impactsExternal of national gas development/production in Western Maryland
Unique Data:
In addition to the set of standard data collected and displayed by all state and local tracking programs, individual programs may host data that are important to their populations. MD provides data on:
Accomplishments:
Excellence in Environmental Health Surveillance: The Maryland Tracking Program has been a leader in environmental health surveillance since 2006. The MD Tracking site was one of the first in the country to present environmental and public health data together in the same visual display and one of the first to display sub-county level health data. The state health department has used MD Tracking information to map state cancer data in investigations of potential cancer clusters. Other programs have used their mapping resources extensively in tracking environmental health issues like radon testing, climate change, and more.