Vaccination shot vaccine injection child nurse
Child Health, Measles, Newborn and Infant Health, Public Health, Vaccines

Combatting the measles threat means examining the reasons for declining vaccination rates

The anti-vaccine literature is not anti-science. It is filled with statistics and references to scientific studies, although the facts are often wrong. Parents who read this literature need more than the simple reassurance of experts that vaccines are safe and effective. They need to be shown evidence and have confidence that their concerns are being taken seriously.

Vaccine egg candling 1
Health Policy, Infectious Disease, Politics, Public Health, Vaccines

CDC layoffs strike deeply at its ability to respond to the current flu, norovirus and measles outbreaks and other public health emergencies

The CDC began as a small branch of the U.S. Public Health Service in 1946 as an outgrowth of successes fighting malaria in southern states during World War II and before. Its founder, Dr. Joseph W. Mountin, envisioned that it would come to serve all states, addressing all communicable diseases. Since that time, the CDC has evolved into the nation’s premier public health organization, leveraging both clinical and population health sciences to prevent and mitigate challenges to the nation’s health.

Child eating diet fast food hamburger fries
Diet, Health News, Nutrition, Prevention, Public Health

Junk food and drug use cut into life expectancy gains for states

Bad habits such as junk food, smoking and illicit drug use are preventing longer lifespans even as technology brings major progress in diseases such as cancer and heart disease, according to a new study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

Nine of the 10 states (all but North Dakota) with the longest life expectancies for babies born this year are dominated by Democrats, and all 10 have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. All 10 states with the shortest life expectancies are controlled by Republicans (though Kentucky has a Democratic governor), and they include five of the 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid.