The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) has disclosed its top 10 state public health policy issues, as part of the Legislative Prospectus Series. The list aims to predict the trends that state legislatures, policymakers, and public health professionals will concentrate on in 2024.

As per the ASTHO press release, the organization compiles this list by monitoring current and emerging policy trends and evaluating their impact on state and territorial public health.

"Our prospectus series is a vital resource for state health officials and their teams preparing for their upcoming legislative sessions," stated ASTHO CEO Michael Fraser in the press release. He added, "While issues like overdose prevention and tobacco control persist, we forecast renewed focus on increasing and supporting the public health workforce and curbing infectious diseases including persistently increasing sexually transmitted infections."

The press release from ASTHO further revealed that the 2024 list includes: containing the spread of infectious disease, data collection and exchange, environmental health, family and reproductive health, mental health, optimal health for all, preventing sexually transmitted disease, substance misuse and overdose prevention, tobacco and nicotine products, and workforce.

According to another statement in the ASTHO press release, ASTHO is a national non-profit organization representing public health agencies across the United States, U.S. territories along with freely associated states and Washington D.C. It advocates for over 100,000 public health professionals working at these agencies.