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This week has been both exhilarating and poignant. Almost surreal. We started the week by pausing to celebrate and reflect on the life and legacy of one of America’s greatest sons, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On Tuesday, ASTHO participated in the National Day of Healing, which provided opportunities for our staff to engage in conversations with one another, seeing one another’s humanity, as well for individual mediation, reflection and learning. On Wednesday, we were honored to witness the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris—the first woman, first Black and first Asian American person to serve in this role. This week also marked one year since we learned of the first known case of COVID-19. Despite these challenges, I am more optimistic now than ever that our collective impact and commonsense recovery response will help guide our successful return to safety and normalcy.

A discussion with Meredith Allen, ASTHO’s Vice President for Health Security, about how the first shipments of the COVID-19 vaccinations have been a major turning point for the pandemic and a milestone moment for U.S. public health history.

Community engagement is essential in the fight to end the HIV epidemic. By prioritizing a health equity lens, those battling HIV can be better heard and involved in improving their health.

With the COVID-19 pandemic in full force, health agencies are ensuring that their focus does not drift from the fight to end the HIV epidemic. Resiliency is key to continue to make progress in this decades-long fight.

Hispanic Heritage Month takes place annually from September 15-October 15 to celebrate the history, culture, achievements, and influence of the Hispanic and Latinx community in the U.S. In recognition of this month, ASTHO interviewed one of our newest members, José Romero, MD, Secretary of Health at the Arkansas Department of Health. In this blog post, he speaks with us about how his experiences as a Hispanic working in healthcare have impacted him and his leadership style.

If EMS can change the perception of patients with Substance Use Disorder, they will see that building rapport and encouraging the patient to seek help from resources they provide can be mutually beneficial. For EMS, it reduces the call volume, and often the financial cost, of repeated responses for the same patient—and the patient gets the help they need to break the cycle of substance dependence.

In August 2020, the Big Cities Health Coalition and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials released a co-produced public service announcement to support public education in our members’ communities. The call to action in the PSA is straightforward: Americans need to put aside our respective differences and, simply, #MaskUp.

The importance of having designated time for staff to connect, grow, develop and share has always been the driving force behind the decision to host “ASTHO Week,” a three-and-a-half daylong all-staff convening every quarter. Given our current work environment, having this time together seems necessary now, more than ever. So in the midst of the pandemic and our full-time telework, here’s what our team learned about planning a 100% virtual ASTHO Week.

As a lifelong public health professional, I am troubled by the opportunities I missed to better address racial injustice. We must used this moment to refresh, to listen and learn from each other. If we are who we say we are, and if we are as brave as we can be, we can fulfill our vision for a better, more equitable, future.

A guide to setting up and facilitating Health Equity Circles in the workplace.

State and territorial health agency health care-associated infection/antimicrobial-resistant programs play a critical role for spearheading prevention, detection, and outbreak response efforts in their communities. Support from agency leaders is critical to ensuring that new federally-supported requirements are met.

Through the lens of the Public Health Accreditation Board's standards and measures, this report explores innovative programs and policies implemented by health departments in an effort to adopt system-wide approaches to achieving health equity.

On May 2, 2023, ASTHO released a statement of support for the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology’s new report and recommendations for supporting the U.S. public health workforce.

On January 12, 2023, ASTHO Immediate Past President, and Director of the Maine CDC, Nirav D. Shah, MD, JD, has been tapped to lead the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as Principal Deputy Director.  

In May 2021, President Biden released full details of the fiscal year 2022 budget. Overall, the budget request combines President Biden's American Jobs Plan, his American Families Plan, and funding priorities for the Pentagon and domestic agencies, for a projected total of $6 trillion. Read more about what the president is proposing in this post.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the de Beaumont Foundation has worked closely with organizations like ASTHO to support and strengthen public health. The foundation has produced several publications and guides to support public health leaders in their efforts to inform the public about COVID-19 and help build confidence in vaccines. Mark Miller, vice president of communications with the de Beaumont Foundation, shares insights into the foundation’s response efforts to COVID-19, and its partnership with key stakeholders.

As the U.S. continues to undertake the largest vaccination campaign in almost a century, it has required government at all levels to surge workforce capacity. The federal government, states, territories, and local jurisdictions are acting to meet the immediate demand for vaccination as well as expand the long-term vaccination workforce. Looking ahead, expansion of the vaccination workforce long-term will help support potential COVID-19 booster shots and expand vaccine access broadly.

An ASTHO report describing the mental health impacts of COVID-19 on the workforce.

The executive leaders of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and the National Council for Mental Wellbeing take a moment to collectively acknowledge the incredible efforts that public health workers have taken to address the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

While COVID-19 remains a top public health priority, the pandemic has also intensified the need for strong tobacco control policies and marketing campaigns. CDC recognizes current or former tobacco users as one of several groups at higher risk of severe illness, including hospitalization and death, after contracting COVID-19. It is distressing to see signs that our success in encouraging tobacco users to quit has been slowed over the course of the pandemic. Fortunately, amid these challenges, many tobacco control groups have stayed focused.