Maryland Department of Health
Environmental Health

​​National Environmental Public Health Tracking Week


Environmental Public Health Tracking Awareness Week 2021

Welcome to Maryland Environmental Public Health Tracking (MD EPHT) - your gateway to environmental and health data resources. You can use the MD EPHT Portal to create maps of different environmental public health topics in Mar​​yland and more.

 
 As part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tracking Network, the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) contributes standardized health and environmental data nationally,  but also provides unique data online for the State. One of these unique data and data products such as the Climate Adaptation Tracker (EPHCAT) in partnership with the University of Maryland. Also available online is suicide mortality data on the MD EPHT Portal. 


​

MD EPHT relies on interagency and academic partnerships to collaborate on innovative programs that protect and improve community health. MD EPHT has partnered with the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) since 2002, and recently collaborated with MDE on air quality and radon initiatives.  Partnerships with the University of Maryland have led to the creation of the Climate Adaptation Tracker (EPHCAT), and a dedicated team for outreach, technical assistance, and communications for environmental public health.


​

In order to respond to COVID-19 in Maryland communities, MDH had to utilize innovative approaches to track the disease. MD EPHT collaborated with Maryland Department of the Environment and Baltimore City on wastewater sampling for COVID-19 at several locations. MD EPHT works with MDE on analysis of wastewater sampling data in the context of infection rates and data visualization efforts.​



In order to respond to COVID-19 in Maryland MD EPHT is working to make more environmental public health data available and conveying disparities where available. MD EPHT Portal includes life expectancy at the county level. Recently, MD EPHT added asthma data to the MDH website, displaying emergency department visits by age and race/ethnicity.  MD EPHT is also partnering with the University of Maryland's Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health (CEEJH) to use MD EPHT Portal, data, and products to better understand environmental injustice across Maryland. MD EPHT and CEEJH are collaborating on communications and data stories to describe disparities related to environment and health. 


MD EPHT collaborated with Green and Health Homes Initiative (GHHI) and Maryland American Academy of Pediatrics to conduct an online webinar series for healthcare providers titled Lead, Asthma, Radon and Healthy Homes in Maryland: New Resources for Clinicians and Patients. This three-part webinar series offered continuing education credits and the recordings are available now on the MDH Environmental Health Training and Instructional Materials web page.  

​​ ​​​