APHA has been the official organizer of National Public Health Week for almost 30 years, rallying health supporters around the nation in support of public health and equipping them with tools to plan their activities and outreach. Partnerships are at the heart of NPHW, according to Lindsey Wahowiak, APHA’s director of Affiliate Affairs, who is today’s guest author. 

With final steps logged, events wrapped and hashtags shared around the world, National Public Health Week 2022 came to a successful close this week.

Celebrated April 4-10, NPHW 2022 was an observance of all things public health. It was a chance for public health leaders, workers, students and advocates to celebrate their successes and reflect on places for growth. And it was an opportunity for the public to learn more about the field, and their place within it. Public Health is Where You Are

With the last two years of NPHW being mainly virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 27th anniversary of NPHW was a chance to show just how strong an impact public health has on our daily lives. 

And what an impact it was: NPHW 2022 was a true success, in part because it showed that “Public Health is Where You Are.” That sentiment was supported by both the White House, as President Joe Biden issued a NPHW proclamation, and Congress, as California Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard and New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján announced plans to introduce a resolution recognizing NPHW in the House and Senate. 

More than 150 events were held in communities across the country, both virtual and in-person. APHA hosted seven virtual panel events, discussions and even a free yoga class for more than 1,000 live viewers. 

Public health was clearly top of mind for many, and they wanted to talk about it. The #NPHWChat on Twitter trended at No. 4 nationally, with more than 500 people garnering over 108 million impressions in just an hour. Well over 1,000 people participated in this year’s Keep It Moving Challenge, walking, dancing, rolling and lifting from Jan. 1 to the close of NPHW. Many of them will be receiving NPHW prizes for their efforts to get a little more active each day.

What NPHW has shown us, time and again, is that when we work in partnership with our communities, we see greater successes. That’s true in health outcomes, and it’s true in our NPHW programming. Sponsorships from Walden University for Student Day activities and UnitedHealth Group for the Twitter chat strengthened our events and our outreach. 

The All of Us Research Program, devoted to improving health of underrepresented groups through scientific research, helped APHA improve accessibility throughout the week, including supporting Spanish translation for our fact sheets and live captioning and American Sign Language interpretation at our events. 
And our partnership with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement led to an exciting panel discussion on how medicine, public health and communities are working together in Cincinnati and beyond. 

With so much to celebrate this year, it may have been easy to miss an event or two. You can revisit all of APHA’s webinars online now. Share APHA’s NPHW infographic, which shows how each of this year’s daily themes intersect to affect our health and our lives. 

And mark your calendars: NPHW will be celebrated April 3-9, 2023. We hope to see you there.