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The development of Pennsylvania's first State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) began in 1997 when the Secretary of Health convened a panel of advisors from Pennsylvania schools of public health, state agencies, charitable foundations and community development agencies to take a new approach to health planning. This new approach recognized that a coordinated, continuous and integrated system of care linking community health and individual health would create the most benefit for the most people.
The result of their efforts, Pennsylvania's first State Health Improvement Plan, was released in January 1999. Since then, SHIP 2001-2005 and SHIP 2006-2010 have also been issued and SHIP 2011-2015 is currently being developed. All the plans have served as blueprints for improving the health of Pennsylvanians by linking local efforts to statewide and national efforts. SHIP provides information and data to assist communities, stakeholders and other state agencies in their efforts to identify issues and trends that impact overall health.
Three components of SHIP
Three main components characterize SHIP's focus on linking community health and individual health:
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Emphasis on health status: planning by addressing the root or underlying causes of premature disease, death and disability.
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Engagement of community-based health improvement partnerships: engaging partnerships, known as SHIP Affiliated Partnerships, to coordinate resources and address local health improvement issues and priorities in meaningful ways.
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Access to relevant data: providing information and data necessary for communities to assess local health status and to develop local health improvement priorities.
SHIP and Healthy People
SHIP has its foundation within the national Healthy People issuances developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The Healthy People issuances are the comprehensive summaries of target objectives for improving the health status of Americans whith the most current version being Healthy People 2010. SHIP 2006-2010 is aligned with the Healthy People 2010 in its overarching goals and its Categories for Health Action, which are based on the Leading Health Indicators.
Overarching Goals
- Increase the years and and quality of life for all Pennsylvanians. The World Health Organization defines "health" as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." SHIP reflects this broad definition of health, going beyond tracking medical conditions and including information on non-clinical indicators of the health of a community as well as local perceptions of need.
- Eliminate Health Disparities. In keeping with the example set by the U.S. Surgeon General, SHIP does not set different "target objectives" for health status improvement for populations experiencing health status disparities ("health disparity" refers to differences in health status, the delivery of health services and/or the untilization of health services, due to differences that may occur by gender, race and ethnicity, education and income, disability, geographic location and sexual orientation). As such, SHIP strongly supports health status improvement goals that will provide the same quality of healthy life for all Pennsylvanians.
Leading Health Indicators
As a means of measuring the health of the Nation, a set of 10 Leading Health Indicators was developed in conjunction with the Healthy People 2010 objectives. Each of the 10 Leading Health Indicators has one or more objectives from Healthy People 2010 associated with it. As a group, these indicators reflected the major health concerns in the United States at the beginning of the 21st century, and are comprised of:
| 1. Physical Activity |
6. Overweight/Obesity |
| 2. Tobacco Use |
7. Immunization |
| 3. Responsible Sexual Behavior |
8. Substance Abuse |
| 4. Mental Health |
9. Injury and Violence |
| 5. Environmental Quality |
10. Access to Health Care |
SHIP translates these Leading Health Indicators into six Categories for Health Action: Communicable Disease; Chronic Disease; Family Health; Violence and Injury; Environmental Health; and Service Delivery Systems. The Department of Health and the SHIP Affiliated Partnerships align their work with these Indicators to improve the health of communities throughout Pennsylvania.
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