The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) encourages all Americans to lead healthy and active lives. We accomplish this by establishing and promoting national public health priorities, translating science into policy, guidance, and tools, and working to improve health literacy and equitable access to clear and actionable health information.
Congress created ODPHP in 1976 to lead disease prevention and health promotion efforts in the United States. We’re part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health.
ODPHP is responsible for coordinating health.gov and its microsites — which are funded by the U.S. government.
Our Work
We set priorities for improving the nation’s health, provide science-based nutrition and physical activity guidance, and create tools and resources to help people make healthy choices.
Our Director
RDML Paul Reed, MD, is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health and Director of ODPHP. He provides oversight and strategic guidance across our initiatives.
Learn more about our director.
Quality Guidelines
ODPHP is committed to providing its audiences with reliable, high-quality information. To do this, we follow a set of guidelines that apply to health.gov and its microsites.
Read our website quality guidelines.
Committees & Workgroups
ODPHP supports several committees and workgroups whose efforts inform and guide our initiatives.
Learn about the goals and efforts of committees and workgroups.
Previous Initiatives
Ever since Congress created ODPHP, our goal has been to decrease people’s risk of developing serious health conditions — and to help people manage existing conditions so they don’t get worse over time.
