Advocacy Project: Letter to a public official

April 28, 2009

Jim Oberstar
House of Representatives
Washington D.C. Office
2365 Rayburn HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Mr. Oberstar,

I am writing you this letter to inform you about the current bill H.R. 1031 : To promote a better health information system. I highly recommend your support for this bill. The bill would provide citizens and communities with advanced understanding of the health information system and also provide communities with the opportunity for more sanitary water supply, better hygiene and a cleaner overall healthier environment. The proposed bill will help numerous communities and third world countries become more informed and aware of the significance of a health system. It will help reduce of the number of diseases that are among third world countries and countries who are suffering from poor health systems, unsanitary water, and insufficient health information. This bill would give people information that would help them create a healthier environment and a healthier means of life.

The people and the communities that would be positively affected by this bill would have less chance of disease and sickness which in turn would give them more opportunities to work and provide for their families. If people were constantly sick because of disease or sickness obtained by an unsanitary water supply, or an unhealthy environment it would be harder for them to perform daily tasks such as going to work and providing for their families.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 13 million deaths worldwide could be prevented every year by making environments healthier. In 23 countries worlwide more than 10% of deaths are due to just two environmental risk factors: unsafe water, including poor sanitation and hygiene; and indoor air pollution due to solid fuel use for cooking. If this bill was passed those statistics would go down and the number of deaths would decrease, just by providing more information on health systems and creating a healthier environment for people to live in.

Thank you for anything in the past that you have done to ensure a healthier environment for communites. I hope that you now realize the best course of action to provide healthier environments for our citizens is to vote "YES" to the house bill H.R. 1031 and promote a better health information system.

Thank you for your time,
Jessica