With the release of "Healthy People: The Surgeon General's Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention" in 1979, the Public Health Service launched a decade-long initiative to reduce preventable death and disease in all age groups in the population by 1990. The 226 health objectives, issued in 1980, addressed measures to improve health status and reduce risks to health across 15 areas of mortality, morbidity, preventive interventions, and health-related behaviors. This report provides a status report on each of the 226 objectives, a commentary on that status, and a brief assessment of what will be needed to reach the 1990 target successfully. The report is in three sections: preventive services, health protection, and health promotion. (JD)