May 26, 2011
MDH Launches Minnesota Public Health Data Access: A Gateway to Minnesota Health and Environment Data
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) announced today the launch of Minnesota Public Health Data Access (MNPH Data Access), an electronic gateway to Minnesota health and environment data. MNPH Data Access is part of a national initiative led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to close the information gap in what is known about the impact of environmental hazards on public health.
This Web-based information system provides a "one stop shop" for data about health, the environment, and other risk factors that may affect public health in Minnesota. Local public health professionals, the public and others may use MNPH Data Access to gather information about health and environment trends over time, and to conduct queries of state and county-level data in Minnesota about diseases and conditions, such as asthma, cancer and heart attacks. This information will help improve efficiency through better data access, and will help Minnesotans make healthy, informed decisions.
MNPH Data Access currently includes data on ten topic areas: air quality, asthma, heart attacks, childhood lead poisoning, carbon monoxide poisoning, reproductive outcomes, cancer, birth defects, drinking water quality, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This summer, MNPH Data Access will add new data and tools, including GIS maps.
Minnesota, along with 22 states and New York City, receives funding from CDC to help improve what is known about the environment's impact on public health by building state tracking networks. With Minnesota's participation, CDC's environmental public health tracking efforts are informing public health policies and actions.
MNPH Data Access is updated and maintained by the Minnesota Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, a program within MDH, through a cooperative agreement with CDC's National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program. Data is collected in collaboration with several MDH programs and other agencies, including the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
MNPH Data Access is available at: https://apps.health.state.mn.us/mndata/.
For information about the Minnesota Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, see: http://www.health.state.mn.us/tracking. For more information about the CDC Tracking Program, see http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/tracking/.
The CDC Tracking Network is a nationwide network that integrates health and environmental data from a variety of national, state and city sources; it is located at www.cdc.gov/ephtracking.
Minnesota Environmental Public Health Tracking Program