The COVID-19 pandemic has elevated and kept public health top of mind world-wide. One issue highlighted by the pandemic that has been keenly felt in New York State and Rhode Island is housing policy.
As the number of COVID-19 vaccinations grows, some states are looking at their vaccination rates to determine when to loosen measures that mitigate the spread of COVID-19, such as venue capacity limits, business closure times, and masking ...
Increasing and maintaining vaccine coverage is an important way to prevent the spread of disease and keep communities healthy. This post is an overview of 2019 state vaccine legislative activities.
Considerable evidence supports the connection between housing, food security, transportation and health outcomes, so states are implementing policies to build healthy environments that ensure equitable opportunity for wellness.
The introduction of highly effective antiviral treatments for hepatitis C in 2014 marks the first time we have been able to cure a major and highly-infectious virus. Despite the significant challenges of addressing a highly stigmatized ...
States have begun to expand their focus when developing new approaches to improve surveillance, promote harm reduction, create linkages to care, and educate providers on opioid overdose reduction.
States can use strategies like school vaccination requirements to help combat the spread of communicable diseases that have robust availability of a highly effective vaccine, such as measles.
Poor oral health is considered a health disparity for low-income children and adults; it has significant impacts on the overall health and well-being especially for those who are vulnerable. However, states can utilize a variety of ...
Each year, ASTHO notes the top public health policy issues to watch in the upcoming year. Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances are synthetic chemicals that can migrate into soil, water, and air during production and use, and can accumulate ...
As governments and private entities adopt COVID-19 vaccine protocols to protect health and safety, legal challenges are mounting. In some states, policymakers have proactively attempted to limit or prohibit adopting COVID-19 vaccine ...
Recent state laws and governor emergency orders prohibiting universal school mask protocols are complicating the implementation of CDC’s evidence-based guidance for COVID-19 mitigation measures for in-person school. Ten states have enacted ...
Data reveals that nearly one third of COVID-19 patients experience one or more post-COVID conditions that linger for weeks or months after infection. The cause, duration, and potential treatments for these conditions are still being ...
As the COVID-19 Delta variant surges across the country, public and private employers have started instituting COVID-19 vaccination, testing, and masking protocols for their employees. On July 29, 2021 the White House announced that all ...
This week might have marked the beginning of summer, but many policymakers and health officials have their eye on the upcoming school year and what that might mean in terms of getting students vaccinated against COVID-19. According to a ...
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 ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has further amplified the need for strong tobacco prevention and cessation policies. Research indicates that tobacco use is associated with increased rate of COVID-19 disease progression and increased likelihood of ...
Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) has become more prevalent in the United States, with the hospitalization rate increasing from 2.9 to 7.3 hospitalizations per 1,000 newborn births between 2009 and 2017. NAS occurs in newborns who ...
Policy Options to Improve Data Sharing Between State and Local Health Departments Organizational policies on data sharing between state and local public health agencies. This report explores organizational policies related to data sharing ...
This ASTHOReport highlights the public health importance of three harm reduction policies and practices to reduce overdoses: facilitating community distribution of naloxone, facilitating community distribution of fentanyl test strips, and ...
2023 Legislative Prospectus Series As part of our comprehensive State Health Policy portfolio, ASTHO provides an annual legislative prospectus—a series of briefs summarizing upcoming legislation proposals that impact public health from ...