Policy Statements

What is a policy statement?
APHA members develop policy statements on key public health topics, from obesity to breastfeeding to control of infectious diseases to eliminating health disparities. Proposed policy statements only become official APHA policy statements after approval by the APHA Governing Council at the Annual Meeting.

How can I use APHA policy statements?
Our policy statements:

help shape APHA's position on legislation and regulations.
are used to write briefs and statements on many public health issues.
highlight the latest research on specific public health topics.
are the source of information for reference and resource information for the public, such as infographics, fact sheets and reports.

Learn more about APHA's policy statements and how you can use them by watching this video and reviewing this document.

Watch this video to learn

APHA policy statement database

Questions about policy statements? Email us.

The following policy statements were adopted by the Governing Council on November 8, 2022. The deadline to submit a proposed policy statement into the 2023 development and review cycle is February 13, 2023. For more information on how to submit, please review the policy statement development process webpage.

Adopted Policy Statements

20221 Intellectual Property Protections and Profits Limit Global Vaccine Access

20222 A Call to Expand International Debt Relief to All Developing Countries to Increase Access to Public Resources for Health Care

20223 Support Decent Work for All As A Public Health Goal in the United States

20224 Advancing Environmental Health and Justice: A Call for Assessment and Oversight of Healthcare Waste

20225 Gas Stoves Are A Public Health Concern: Exposure to NO₂Increases Risk of Illness in Children, Older Adults, and People with Underlying Health Conditions

20226 Support for Women's Inclusion in HIV-Related Clinical Research

20227 A Strategy to Address Systemic Racism and Violence as Public Health Priorities: Training and Supporting Community Health Workers to Advance Equity and Violence Prevention

20228 Preserving Public Health Capacity by Protecting the Workforce and Authority

20229 Advancing Health Equity Through Protecting and Promoting Access to Voting

202210 Reimagining Public Health Leadership for Health Equity: Moving Towards Collective and Community-Centered Applied Practice

202211 Ensuring Access to Affordable Prescription Medications

Latebreakers*

LB22-01 Public Health Actions That Support Implementation of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline

*Latebreaker Policy Statements must be resubmitted and approved in the full 2023 proposed policy cycle. Otherwise, they will archive at the close of the 2023 Annual Meeting and Expo

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