Public Health Preparedness Archives - Page 18 of 24

A Healthy Early Childhood Action Plan: Policies for a Lifetime of Well-being

TFAH Commends President Obama and Congressional Leadership for Securing the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015

Washington, D.C., October 28, 2015 – The Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) commends President Obama and Congressional leadership for the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, and is pleased to announce its support for this legislation. The following is a statement from Jeffrey Levi, PhD, executive director of TFAH.

“This agreement is an important step toward ensuring the nation has adequate resources to help people be healthy, happy and productive. TFAH calls on Congress to pass the Bipartisan Budget Act.

By largely replacing sequestration’s harmful cuts—which forced historically low and grossly inadequate funding for critical public health programs—Congress is now able to increase investments in vital public health and other domestic programs that keep Americans healthy, safe, and secure.

TFAH recommends Congress use this funding to invest in programs that build a public health system that focuses on preventing disease in the first place by restoring funding to chronic disease programs—such as Partnerships to Improve Community Health, Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health and Tips From Former Smokers—at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These programs support proven strategies that prevent and control the development of numerous chronic diseases.

We also urge Congress to pass appropriations bills that do not include ideologically driven, partisan policy riders that could threaten the implementation of this historic deal.

Every American deserves to be healthy. By maintaining funding for the Prevention and Public Health Fund and passing this Act, the nation’s leaders will have finally signaled that they are serious about providing the support needed to keep Americans healthy and happy.”

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Trust for America’s Health is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to saving lives by protecting the health of every community and working to make disease prevention a national priority.

Trust for America’s Health Releases Letter Detailing Strong Opposition to the Reconciliation Instructions Proposed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee

Eliminating the Prevention and Public Health Fund—which has the support of more than 900 organizations—would set Public Health back by a Decade

Washington, D.C., September 29, 2015 – Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) released a letter detailing strong opposition to the Reconciliation Instructions proposed for consideration by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, stating that eliminating funding for the Prevention and Public Health Fund would set public health back by a decade.

The letter also notes that more than 900 state and national organizations have already pledged their support for the Prevention Fund and details the successes of the Fund.

The letter, in part, reads:

“In the first six years since its inception, the Prevention Fund has invested nearly $5.25 billion in resources to states, communities, tribal and community organizations in support of community-based prevention, including tobacco use prevention, healthy eating and active living, as well as childhood immunizations and clinical prevention. Decimating the Prevention Fund in this manner would dramatically impede efforts underway to improve health, including:

The Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant, which was doubled under the Prevention Fund and provides all 50 states, the District of Columbia, two American Indian tribes, and eight U.S. territories with flexible funding to address their unique public health issues at the state and community level.
Expanding Access to Cancer Screenings: In FY 2015, the Fund provided $104 million for the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, which is helping states across the country provide cancer screenings to high risk women who are uninsured or underinsured.
The successful Tips from Former Smokers campaign, which in just its first three months inspired more than 1.6 million people to try to quit smoking, and more than 100,000 smokers have quit for good.
Funding for the section 317 childhood immunization program, which has been vital to preventing and responding to measles outbreaks, and epidemiology and laboratory capacity in all states, which are key to preventing and containing infectious disease outbreaks.

“These are just a few examples of the work underway thanks to the Prevention Fund. Massively reducing the Fund would set back public health by a decade, and would slash life-saving investments in every state that are desperately needed. For example, chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, lung disease, heart disease, and stroke are now responsible for seven out of 10 deaths and account for 86 percent of health care spending in America. An approach to deficit reconciliation that cuts prevention may in fact have the opposite effect – less prevention of illness and disease and increased future health care spending.”

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Trust for America’s Health Statement on EPA’s Clean Power Plan: Essential for Safeguarding the Climate, Health and Wealth of the United States

Washington, D.C., August 3, 2015 – The following is a statement from Jeffrey Levi, PhD, executive director of the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) on the final carbon pollution standards for new and existing source power plants, issued today by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“Today’s announcement finalizing the Clean Power Plan is an important step forward toward turning these proposals into reality and safeguarding our climate, health and wealth.

Climate change poses serious public health concerns — from natural disasters to reduced water resources to new insect-based infectious diseases associated with higher temperatures to worsening air quality to the effects of the extreme weather we’ve seen across the country this summer.

Issuing carbon pollutions standards for new and existing power plants is one essential piece of a strategy – but we cannot stop here. The 2015 Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change mapped out the impact of climate change and measures that could be taken to protect the health of humans and the planet – and how, if we work urgently and expeditiously, we can turn the tide and achieve promising results.”

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TFAH Releases Issue Brief – The Clean Water Rule: Clearing up Confusion to Protect Public Health

Washington, D.C., July 23, 2015 – Today, the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) released an issue brief examining the country’s Clean Water Rule and how it will improve and protect Americans’ health and restore guaranteed protections for a range of waters.

The brief, The Clean Water Rule: Clearing up Confusion to Protect Public Health, finds that, despite advances in water management, waterborne illnesses still pose a serious threat to Americans’ health. Even though water-related illnesses are largely underreported, the United States annually experiences a significant number of waterborne illnesses. In fact, each year around 30 outbreaks and 1,000 reported drinking water-related cases and around 24 outbreaks and 1,300 recreational water-related cases occur.

According to the brief, water pollution affects Americans’ health on a regular basis. In the summer of 2014, the country witnessed a dramatic example of the effects of contaminated waterways when a toxic algal event in Lake Erie shut off the main drinking water supply for 400,000 people in Toledo, Ohio.

In another recent example, in Charleston, West Virginia, hundreds of thousands of people were unable to use their tap water because of toxic substances in the water supply. And, across the country, industrial pollution, animal and human waste, and waterborne pathogens are often found in these headwaters—from which 117 million Americans get their drinking water.

To help resolve these issues, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers — which implement the Clean Water Act—held more than 400 stakeholder meetings, sifted through more than a million public comments (of which 87 percent favored the action), and developed a detailed scientific report, Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream Waters, that examined more than 1,200 peer-reviewed publications on the connections between upstream and downstream bodies of water.

These actions resulted in the creation of the Clean Water Rule, which clarifies the scope of the headwaters that are protected under the Clean Water Act. According to the brief, by providing protection for these waters, the Clean Water Rule will safeguard headwaters, better hold industrial polluters of headwaters accountable and greatly improve the nation’s health.

“We want to un-muddy the waters – the Clean Water Act’s legacy has been to ensure Americans have sustainable access to a healthy water supply,” said Jeffrey Levi, PhD, executive director of TFAH. “Moving forward, the Clean Water Rule will further the Act’s great successes by strengthening protections for our nation’s water supply and reducing instances of waterborne illness. The Rule should be administered—without delay or further changes—to avoid putting the public’s health at further risk.”

The brief also notes that protecting America’s headwaters is popular across political lines. A recent poll found that 80 percent of American voters favor the Rule, with half of voters saying they strongly favor it. Support for the rule cuts across party lines, with large majorities of Democrats, Independents and Republicans in favor.

TFAH Statement: Lancet Commission and White House Summit Highlight Urgent Need to Address Climate Change Health Threats

Washington, DC, June 23, 2015 – The following is a statement from Jeffrey Levi, PhD, executive director of the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) on the White House Climate and Health Summit and release of the 2015 Lancet Commission on Health and Climate change report this morning.

“For too long, the country has buried its head in the sand when it comes to the threats climate change poses to our health.

The new Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change report raises the stakes, clearing defining the consequences of inaction – but also presents a silver lining of how action now can help mitigate the problems of tomorrow.

That is why the White House Climate and Health Summit on Tuesday is so critical – bringing together U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy and leading experts to help build a path forward. But, to have a real ongoing impact, we need more than a one day forum. We need a sustained approach—across agencies—that strategically aligns programs and policies to address climate change and health.

This sustained approach should include the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services committing to ensuring that all its programs address the impact of climate change on health and the White House mobilizing every federal agency to consider the health implications of climate change when performing their duties.

We know that, as climate and weather patterns shift, they contribute to the emergence of new diseases and the reemergence or spread of diseases that were nearly eradicated or thought to be under control. As changes in temperature and weather patterns allow pathogens to expand into different geographic regions, some vector- and zoonotic-borne diseases may increase along with foodborne and waterborne diseases. Excessively high temperatures, heavy downpours, wildfires, severe droughts, permafrost thawing, ocean acidification, sea-level rise and other extreme weather events all have implications for public health.

In the Trust for America’s Health annual Outbreaks: Protecting Americans from Infectious Diseases report, we found that only 15 states have complete climate change adaptation plans – including planning for the impact of climate change on human health.

We know that climate change is affecting every sector of American society, making addressing this issue the urgent responsibility of every government program and agency. There’s no time like the present to safeguard the future health and wealth of the country.”

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Deaths from Injuries Up Significantly Over Past Four Years in 17 States; Majority of States Score 5 or Lower out of 10 on Injury Prevention Report Card

Washington, D.C., June 17, 2015– According to The Facts Hurt: A State-By-State Injury Prevention Policy Report, West Virginia has the highest numbers of injury-related deaths of any state (97.9 per 100,000 people), at a rate more than double of the state with the lowest rate, New York (40.3 per 100,000 people). In the past four years, the number of injury deaths increased significantly in 17 states, remained stable in 24 states and decreased in 9 states. The national rate is 58.4 per 100,000 people. Injuries are the leading cause of death for Americans ages 1 to 44 – and are responsible for nearly 193,000 deaths per year.

Drug overdoses are the leading cause of injury deaths in the United States, at nearly 44,000 per year. These deaths have more than doubled in the past 14 years, and half of them are related to prescription drugs (22,000 per year). Overdose deaths now exceed motor vehicle-related deaths in 36 states and Washington, D.C.

West Virginia has the highest number of drug overdose deaths (33.5 per 100,000 people) – accounting for more than one-third of the state’s overall injury deaths, rates are lowest in North Dakota (at 2.6 per 100,000 people). In the past four years, drug overdose death rates have significantly increased in 26 states and Washington, D.C. and decreased in six.

The Facts Hurt report, released today by the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) also includes a report card of 10 key indicators of leading evidence-based strategies that help reduce injuries and violence. The indicators were developed in consultation with top injury prevention experts from the Safe States Alliance and the Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research (SAVIR).

Twenty-nine states and Washington, D.C. scored a five or lower out of the 10 key injury-prevention indicators. New York received the highest score of nine out of a possible 10, while four states scored the lowest, Florida, Iowa, Missouri and Montana, with two out of 10.

“Injuries are not just acts of fate. Research shows they are pretty predictable and preventable,” said Jeffrey Levi, PhD, executive director of TFAH. “This report illustrates how evidence-based strategies can actually help prevent and reduce motor vehicle crashes, head injuries, fires, falls, homicide, suicide, assaults, sexual violence, child abuse, drug misuse, overdoses and more. It’s not rocket science, but it does require common sense and investment in good public health practice.”

Some key findings include:

Drug abuse: More than 2 million Americans misuse prescription drugs. The prescription drug epidemic is also contributing to an increase in heroin use; the number of new heroin users has doubled in the past seven years. Key report indicators include:
- 34 states and Washington, D.C. have “rescue drug” laws in place to expand access to, and use of naloxone – a prescription drug that can be effective in counteracting an overdose – by lay administrators. This is double the number of states with these laws in 2013 (17 and Washington, D.C.)
- While every state except Missouri has some form of Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) in place to help reduce doctor shopping and mis-prescribing, only half (25) require mandatory use by healthcare providers in at least some circumstances.
Motor vehicle deaths: Rates have declined 25 percent in the past decade (to 33,000 per year). Key report indicators include:
- 21 states have drunk driving laws that require ignition interlocks for all offenders;
- While most states have Graduated Drivers Licenses that restrict times when teens can drive, 10 states restrict nighttime driving for teens starting at 10 pm; and
- 35 states and Washington, D.C. require car safety or booster seats for children up to age 8.
Homicides: Rates have dropped 42 percent in the past 20 years (to 16,000 per year). The rate of Black male youth (ages 10 to 24) homicide victims is 10 times higher than for the overall population. One in three female homicide victims is killed by an intimate partner. A key report indicator includes:
- 31 states have homicide rates at or below the national goal of 5.5 per every 100,000 people.
Suicides: Rates have remained stable for the past 20 years (41,000 per year). More than one million adults attempt suicide and 17 percent of teens seriously consider suicide each year. Seventy percent of suicides deaths are among White males.
Falls: One in three Americans over the age of 64 experiences a serious fall each year, falls are the most common nonfatal injuries, and the number of fall injuries and deaths are expected to increase as the Baby Boomer cohort ages. A key report indicator includes:
- 13 states have unintentional fall-related death rates under the national goal (of 7.2 per 100,000 people – unintentional falls).
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) from sports/recreation among children have increased by 60 percent in the past decade.

“Injuries are persistent public health problems. New troubling trends, like the prescription drug overdose epidemic, increasing rates of fall-related deaths and traumatic brain injuries, are serious and require immediate response,” said Corrine Peek-Asa, MPH, PhD, Professor and Associate Dean for Research at the College of Public Health, University of Iowa. “But, we cannot afford to neglect or divert funds from ongoing concerns like motor vehicle crashes, drownings, assaults and suicides. We spend less than the cost of a box of bandages, at just $.028 per person per year on core injury prevention programs in this country.”

“This report provides state leaders and policymakers with the information needed to make evidence-based decisions to not only save lives, but also save state and taxpayers’ money,” said Amber Williams, Executive Director of the Safe States Alliance. “The average injury-related death in the U.S. costs over $1 million in medical costs and lost wages. Preventing these injuries will allow for investments in other critical areas including education and infrastructure.”

The report provides a series of specific, research-based recommendations for reducing the harm caused by a range of types of injury and violence – with a focus on prevention. It was supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is available on TFAH’s website.

Score Summary:

A full list of all of the indicators and scores, listed below, is available along with the full report on TFAH’s web site. For the state-by-state scoring, states received one point for achieving an indicator or zero points if they did not achieve the indicator. Zero is the lowest possible overall score, 10 is the highest.

9 out of 10: New York
8 out of 10: Delaware
7 out of 10: California, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia
6 out of 10: Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island and Virginia
5 out of 10: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin
4 out of 10: Arizona, District of Columbia, Idaho, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Pennsylvania
3 out of 10: Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming
2 out of 10: Florida, Iowa, Missouri and Montana

The 10 indicators include:

Does the state have a primary seat belt law? (34 states and Washington, D.C. meet the indicator and 16 states do not.)
Does the state require mandatory ignition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers, even first-time offenders? (21 states meet the indicator and 29 states and Washington, D.C. do not.)
Does the state require car seats or booster seats for children up to at least the age of 8? (35 states and Washington, D.C. meet the indicator and 15 do not.)
Does the state have Graduated Driver Licensing laws – restricting driving for teens starting at 10 pm? (11 states meet the indicator and 39 states and Washington, D.C. do not. Note a number of other states have restrictions starting at 11 pm or 12 pm.)
Does the state require bicycle helmets for all children? (21 states and Washington, D.C. meet the indicator and 29 states do not.)
Does the state have fewer homicides than the national goal of 5.5 per 100,000 people established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (2011-2013 data)? (31 states meet the indicator and 19 states and Washington, D.C. do not.)
Does the state have a child abuse and neglect victimization rate at or below the national rate of 9.1 per 1,000 children (2013 data)? (25 states meet the indicator and 25 states and Washington, D.C. do not.)
Does the state have fewer deaths from unintentional falls than the national goal of 7.2 per 100,000 people established by HHS (2011-2013 data)? (13 states meet the indicator and 37 states and Washington, D.C. do not.)
Does the state require mandatory use of data from the prescription drug monitoring program by at least some healthcare providers? (25 states meet the indicator and 25 states and Washington, D.C. do not.)
Does the state have laws in place to expand access to, and use of, naloxone, an overdose rescue drug by laypersons? (34 states and D.C. meet the indicator and 16 states do not.)

STATE-BY-STATE INJURY DEATH RANKINGS

Note: Rates include all injury deaths for all ages for injuries caused by injuries and violence (intentional and unintentional). They are based on a methodology used to compare rates across all states – including using three-year averages of the most recent data (2011-2013). National data sources may differ from how some states calculate their data (because of use of different time frames, inclusion/exclusions, etc.). 1 = Highest rate of injury fatalities, 51 = lowest rate of injury fatalities. The 2011-2013 data are from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System — age-adjusted using the year 2000 to standardize the data. This methodology, recommended by the CDC, compensates for any potential anomalies or unusual changes due to the specific sample in any given year in any given state. States with statistically significant (p<0.05) increases since 2007-2009 are noted with an asterisk (*), while states with a statistically significant decrease are noted with two asterisks (**).

1. West Virginia (97.9*); 2. New Mexico (92.7**); 3. Oklahoma (88.4*); 4. Montana (85.1); 5. Wyoming (84.6); 6. Alaska (83.5); 7. Kentucky (81.7*); 8. Mississippi (81.0); 9. Tennessee (76.7); 10. Arkansas (75.3); 11. Louisiana (75.3**); 12. Arizona (73.4); 13. Alabama (73.3); 14. Utah (72.8*); 15. Missouri (72.4); 16. Colorado (70.7); 17. South Carolina (69.9); 18. Idaho (69.1); 19. (tie) Nevada (67.1**) and South Dakota (67.1*); 21. Vermont (66.0); 22. Kansas (65.0*); 23. Pennsylvania (64.3*); 24. Ohio (63.9*); 25. Indiana (63.7*); 26. North Carolina (62.1**); 27. Wisconsin (62.0*); 28. Oregon (61.8); 29. Florida (61.3**); 30. Michigan (60.6*); 31. Maine (60.1); 32. Delaware (60.0); 33. North Dakota (59.3); 34. Rhode Island (58.6*); 35. Georgia (58.1**); 36. Washington (57.1); 37. New Hampshire (56.6*); 38. Iowa (56.4*); 39. Texas (55.3**); 40. Minnesota (54.9*); 41. District of Columbia (53.7); 42. Maryland (53.4**); 43. Nebraska (52.5); 44. Virginia (52.0); 45. Illinois (50.0); 46. Connecticut (49.6); 47. Hawaii (48.8); 48. California (44.6**); 49. New Jersey (44.0*); 50. Massachusetts (42.9); 51. New York (40.3*).

STATE-BY-STATE DRUG OVERDOSE DEATH RANKINGS

Note: Rates include drug overdose deaths, for 2011-2013, a three-year average. 1 = Highest rate of drug overdose fatalities, 51 = lowest rate of drug overdose fatalities. States with statistically significant (p<0.05) increases since 2007-2009 are noted with an asterisk (*), while states with a statistically significant decrease are noted with two asterisks (**). States with a § have an overdose death rate higher than the state’s overall motor vehicle mortality rate for 2011 to 2013.

1. West Virginia (33.5*§); 2. (tie) Kentucky (24.6*§) and New Mexico (24.6§); 4. Nevada (21.6*§); 5. Utah (21.5§); 6. Oklahoma (20.0§); 7. Rhode Island (19.4*§); 8. Ohio (19.2*§); 9. Pennsylvania (18.9§); 10. Arizona (17.8*§); 11. Tennessee (17.7*§); 12. Delaware (17.1*§); 13. Wyoming (16.4*); 14. Missouri (16.2*§); 15. Indiana (16.0*§); 16. Colorado (15.5§); 17. Alaska (15.3§); 18. (tie) Michigan (14.6§) and New Hampshire (14.6§); 20. Louisiana (14.5§); 21. (tie) District of Columbia (13.8*§) and Massachusetts (13.8§); 23. (tie) Florida (13.7**§) and Washington (13.7**§); 25. Montana (13.6); 26. Maryland (13.3*§); 27. (tie) New Jersey (13.2*§) and North Carolina (13.2*§); 29. (tie) Connecticut (13.1*§) and Wisconsin (13.1*§); 31. Vermont (13.0§); 32. South Carolina (12.9§); 33. Idaho (12.7*); 34. Oregon (12.4§); 35. Arkansas (12.3**); 36. (tie) Alabama (12.2**) and Maine (12.2**§); 38. Illinois (11.8*§); 39. Hawaii (11.4*§); 40. Kansas (11.2); 41. (tie) California (10.7*§) and Georgia (10.7*) and Mississippi (10.7); 44. New York (10.4*§); 45. (tie) Texas (9.6) and Virginia (9.6*); 47. Minnesota (9.3*§); 48. Iowa (8.8*); 49. Nebraska (7.2*); 50. South Dakota (6.5); 51. North Dakota (2.6**).

For more than 40 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve health and health care. We are striving to build a national Culture of Health that will enable all to live longer, healthier lives now and for generations to come. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook.

The Safe States Alliance is a national, non-profit organization and professional association whose mission is to strengthen the practice of injury and violence prevention.

SAVIR is a national professional organization dedicated to fostering excellence in the science of preventing and treating violence and injury. Our vision is a safer world through violence and injury research and its application to practice.

Issue Category: Public Health Preparedness