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Over the past twenty years, the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and natural disasters have increased and, by most accounts, this trend will continue. Certain disabilities and activity limitations make it more difficult to prepare for and evacuate from an incident, underscoring the importance of planning in advance. Read about ASTHO’s specialists Erin Dotten (Michigan), Brooke Riester (New Mexico), and Stephen Heck (South Dakota), who have extensive experience understanding and responding to the needs of people living with disabilities during natural disasters.

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced new challenges for screening children’s blood lead levels, as screening rates across the country dropped during stay-at-home orders. A substantive federal policy change and provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act are significantly changing the landscape for reporting and reducing childhood lead poisoning. Read what states are doing in this week’s health policy update.

One of the major disruptions to daily life caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was the rapid shift from in-person K-12 education to virtual learning. While necessary for social distancing and slowing the spread of disease, there is a concern that time away from traditional classroom environments has slowed student’s anticipated learning trajectory and milestones, resulting in what is referred to as learning loss. If left unmitigated, learning loss may result in lower educational achievement and poorer health outcomes in the future for current students, particularly students with disabilities.

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.

A year ago, it was unthinkable that we would have 600,000 cases and more than 17,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the state of Massachusetts. Many of us know someone who has become ill or has died from COVID-19 and the toll in suffering is immense. I am hopeful that the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine will be a light at the end of this long pandemic tunnel. In Massachusetts, the three pillars of our vaccine effort are to preserve life, preserve our healthcare system, and prioritize equity by focusing on reaching our hardest hit communities. So, equity is at the core of our vaccine allocation work.

Though we’ve made progress on the number of HIV cases in the U.S, tens of thousands of Americans are diagnosed with HIV each year—a disproportionate number being people of color. In 2019, the federal government launched the Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America (EHE) with a goal of ending the HIV epidemic by 2030. EHE leverages four strategies to reduce the prevalence of HIV: diagnosis, treat, prevent, and respond. State efforts to reduce the incidence of HIV align with the federal plan, with many states passing legislation to enhance prevention and harm-risk reduction efforts.

Continuing ASTHO’s Legislative Prospectus series—which highlights the top 10 public health policy issues for 2022—this post focuses on mental and behavioral health, as well as supporting the public health workforce.

Each year, ASTHO notes the top public health policy issues to watch in the upcoming year. ASTHO has published a prospectus on several issues, with more coming later this month. ASTHO kicked off its top 10 public health state policy issues to watch in 2022 with Immunization the first week in January. This week, we are focusing on e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco products.

Health Equity in Overdose Data to Action Overdose prevention and health equity are two vital aspects of addressing the urgent public health crisis of substance use and overdose. Overdose data is crucial in identifying inequities and shaping effective interventions. By using data to drive action, health agencies can create more equitable and impactful strategies to prevent overdoses. To support this work, ASTHO has created health equity resources for recipients of CDC’s Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) cooperative agreement. Resources OD2A Health Equity Needs Assessment Overview ASTHO, in consultation with CDC, created the OD2A Health Equity Needs Assessment to assess the support, technical assistance, and training that state, local, and territorial health agencies need to move health equity forward within their OD2A programs. Based on the results of the needs assessment, ASTHO, in partnership with Strickland Health Consulting, identified nine prevalent technical assistance needs and developed a resource, Advancing Health Equity in the Overdose Crisis Response, a compilation of existing resources, to address these components of integrating health equity into overdose surveillance and prevention efforts. Health Equity Sharing Forum: Health Equity and Culturally Responsive Evaluation ASTHO, in partnership with CDC, hosted a virtual OD2A Health Equity Sharing Forum on January 11, 2023. The forum focused on how health equity and culturally responsive evaluation are informing OD2A prevention efforts, as well as understanding how CDC and ASTHO can support these efforts through technical assistance and resource development. Panelists discussed incorporating health equity and culturally responsive evaluation into their OD2A activities and opportunities for collaboration with health equity subject matter experts. The forum featured three speakers from CDC’s Program Evaluation Team and Applied Prevention Science Team: Minda Reed, Marissa Roberts, and Jenelle Mellerson. Three OD2A jurisdictions—Sarah Ruiz of Massachusetts, Jan Fields of Michigan, and Stacy Christopher and Ashly Jordan of New York City—and two health equity evaluation experts—Pat Campbell of Campbell Kibler Associates and Veronica Thomas of Howard University—also joined the discussion. Sharing Forum Resources  OD2A Health Equity Sharing Forum Resources: A curated set of resources referenced by panelists. Health Equity Focused Evaluation Profiles (Parts 1 – 4): A collection of four posts written by Jan Fields for the OD2A Evaluation Community of Practice blog between December 2021 through June 2022. Part 1: Root Cause Analysis and Equity Review Part 2: Plan for Adaptions Part 3: Context Analysis Part 4: Health Equit Indicator Development Health Equity Focused Evaluation Profiles (Part 5): This is the fifth of a series of blog posts on implementing core components of a health equity work plan that was created by NACCHO and Health Equity and Action Research Tools & Training for Transformation, a Colorado-based consulting firm. Part 5: Community Engagement Assessment Lessons Learned from ASTHO's Mentorship Program: Health Equity Track The Overdose Data to Action Mentorship Program: Health Equity Track convenes both newer and experienced OD2A cooperative agreement staff to celebrate successes, identify challenges, and share ideas through peer exchange, health equity trainings, technical assistance, and a structured mentor/mentee relationship. website False

The Embedded specialist in South Carolina used an ASTHO tool to assist the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control improve inclusivity of people living with disabilities in their public health programs.

As Black History Month comes to a close, we wanted to reflect on racial equity and how it is intrinsically connected to the work ASTHO does every day in public health. We spoke to our CEO Michael Fraser and Gail Christopher, DN, the executive director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity, to get their thoughts on the month and how we can prioritize diversity and inclusion year-round.

COVID-19 has revealed the stark reality of racial and ethnic health disparities that exist nationally. Black and Hispanic Americans were nearly three times more likely to die from COVID-19 than white Americans. Black and Hispanic Americans experience a greater prevalence of underlying risk factors such chronic disease and co-morbidities, access to health care, lower socioeconomic status, and others. The root causes of these disparities can be attributed to structural racism and the legacy of policies that perpetuates health inequities. As we commemorate Black History Month throughout the month of February, it is imperative that we work to correct the wrongs of the past and address structural racism and health inequities to build a healthier future.

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.

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.

Three public health experts share how they prioritized vaccine equity for American Indian and Alaskan Native communities on the local, state, and national levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On this episode, speakers will address both issues and highlight the importance of public health agencies leading with and integrating equity in their COVID-19 response. We hear from three leaders managing their COVID-19 response by prioritizing areas with the greatest need and supporting community-led decision-making to ensure the most socially vulnerable populations have increased access to treatment, testing, isolation options, and resources.

This blog describes how Palau's health ministry collaborated with its community to design indicators to better measure health equity in its jurisdiction.

This post explores the importance of including maternal and child health considerations in infectious disease emergency preparedness and response in states, territories, and freely associated states.

Community members and policymakers that want to prevent suicides, overdoses, and adverse childhood experiences can choose to intervene at different levels.

As new diseases or emergencies arise, working alongside trusted committees can help health officials quickly respond and prevent undue burden on at-risk groups such as people with disabilities, pregnant people, and children.