New York State Environmental Public Health Tracking imageEnvironmental Public Health Tracking

New York's Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) Program focuses on tracking environmental and health patterns and trends. Environmental Public Health Tracking is a national program led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is intended to improve access to environmental health information and support research, programs and policies that may help protect our communities.

Tracking Projects Explore the Connections Between Health and the Environment

New York State has several projects that focus on combining environmental, health, and other data to explore possible relationships between environmental hazards and health effects. These projects look for geographic patterns, clusters, or trends over time. This work helps to promote a healthy and safe environment, a key priority of the New York State Health Department Health Improvement Plan.

New York State's Tracking Program partners with many other organizations to assess the health and community impacts of heat and extreme weather. Partners include New York State's Climate and Health Program, local health departments and emergency managers, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the Department of Environmental Conservation, the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Weather Service, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Tracking Program continues developing climate/health-related indicators and promoting messages to increase awareness about the potential health impacts of climate change. The Tracking Program maintains an online directory to help New Yorkers find local cooling centers during periods of extreme heat. It also provides county-specific heat vulnerability reports, and County Heat and Health Profile Reports that use fine-scale estimates of temperature from NASA to explore the impacts of heat on health in each New York State County.

The Tracking Program provides ongoing assistance to New York State's Childhood Lead Program. Projects include providing technical support for statistical analyses and mapping activities, and partnering on the review and update of lead soil standards in New York State.

The Tracking Program is currently developing local level (sub-county) environmental and health indicators.  Sub-county level data provide insights into variations of environmental, exposure, health, and population patterns and trends within a county, which may be useful to help identify health disparities and opportunities for outreach and intervention. The Tracking Program's Heat Vulnerability Index and County Heat and Health Profile Reports are examples of how sub-county data can help communities understand trends and identify populations with highest vulnerability to heat and heat-related illness.

Read about the Tracking Program's work to provide tools and resources that help partners identify patterns and trends, and deliver programs that improve environmental health.

Timely Topics

Tracking Awareness Week 2023

Tracking Awareness Week

NYS Tracking data and tools are designed for action. Our Tracking Team works hard to make sure that everyone has access to data and information so they can better understand and address environmental public health issues. During Tracking Awareness Week, you can learn about our data, projects, and partnerships and how they empower people to make information-driven decisions that affect their health.

Air Quality

Wildfire Smoke

Wildfires burning in Canada are affecting air quality across New York State. As long as wildfires continue, conditions can change with wind direction and weather so check latest air quality at airnow.gov and follow these tips when air quality is unhealthy.

Extreme Heat

Extreme Heat

Heat is on average the greatest weather-related killer in the United States. Heat-related deaths and illness are preventable, yet each year many people suffer from the effects of extreme heat. Some individuals also are at a higher risk for heat-related illness than others. Prevent heat related illness with these tipsand learn more about extreme heat in New York State.