PA becomes an official APHA Section!

7-11-12: I'm a member of the American Public Health Association (APHA), the oldest and most diverse public health org in the world. Even though it has "American" in the title, members come from public health entities all over the world.

For the last few years, Physical Activity (PA) has been a special interest group (SPIG). I've had the privilege of being a member of this SPIG since it formed. After reaching certain benchmarks set forth by the APHA, the PA SPIG has now been granted official SECTION status, joining 27 other primary sections.

What's so special about becoming a Section? In a nutshell, PA is not on probation anymore! We are now a permanent group as a Section, with a specific budget and more slots for sessions at the annual meeting, among other perks that Sections enjoy that SPIGs do not.

The PA SPIG was the fastest growing SPIG in the last few years, and we are excited to finally have reached Section status. This will allow public health professionals who are interested in PA more opportunities for networking, developing program content, craft policy, and develop our careers.

This promotion is a major affirmation by APHA on the importance PA has in solving our public health care crisis.

If you work in public health at any level, don't miss our upcoming annual meeting, Oct. 27-31, 2012, in San Francisco, CA. There, we will have our first official PA Section meeting, so you won't want to miss that!