08/01/2025
Health is a community endeavor: the food we grow and share, the skills we offer to each other, the medicinal techniques we foster.
NEW: Today, I am issuing my Parting Prescription for America—my final reflections as I complete my time as U.S. Surgeon General. It addresses a foundational—and urgent—question I have grappled with: what are the root causes of the pain and unhappiness so many are experiencing?
In addition to more commonly discussed challenges such as economic hardship, mental health struggles, and uncertainty about the future, there is something else that has been missing for many people that is a critical driver of health and well-being: community.
The three critical components of community are relationships, service, and purpose. They comprise the triad of fulfillment.
Yet half of young people and a third of adults struggle with loneliness; formal and informal service have remained low; and an alarmingly high number of young adults say they have low or no meaning or purpose in their lives.
Rebuilding community will require a cultural shift to recenter our lives around the triad of fulfillment: relationships, purpose, and service. We have to rethink what defines success and a good life—and build our individual lives, institutions, and policies around that.
My Parting Prescription for America lays out a pathway for how we can make this critical shift. Community is a force for health and fulfillment. It is an antidote to division and despair. We need it more than ever. Read the full Parting Prescription at Surgeongeneral.gov/community
