Population Health News Roundup: February

Interdisciplinary Spotlight

NAACP and RWJF partnership expands: Furthering their work together, RWJF and the NAACP will broaden health disparities work to include community-driven policies, bridges between local and national efforts, policymaker education, and local efforts around nutrition, young child care and education, and more. (RWJF, February 4, 2019)

Tech Talk

How will artificial intelligence affect health disparities?: AI could make disparities worse, according to Dhurv Khullar. (NYT, January 31, 2019) 

Global Health

Global suicide rates are declining, but disparities remain: Suicide rates remain higher for men except for the 15-19 age range. Rates are higher in Lesotho, Lithuania, Russia, and Zimbabwe. (CNN February 6, 2019 via BMJ.)

Systems fail acid attack survivors in Cambodia: The rate of acid attacks is declining after the Law on Regulating Concentrated Acid was passed, but people who survive acid attacks in Cambodia aren’t getting the care and treatment they need. (Human Rights Watch, February 4, 2019)

Fake news and Ebola: In Congo, information manipulation is making it harder for public health workers to contain the Ebola epidemic. (Science Mag, January 14, 2019)

Place

Salads and sodas as social determinants: Seattle neighborhoods get mapped according to property values and salad and soda consumption. (University of Washington School of Public Health, January 14, 2019)

Something in the classroom air: Traffic pollution can cause microclimates of poor air in schools; lower test scores, more behavioral incidents, and more absences follow. (CityLab, February 4, 2019)

Seattle breaks the rules to improve pedestrian safety: City engineers are planning a greenway system that will count pedestrian crossings at crosswalks after the crosswalk is added.  (StreetsBlog, February 5, 2019)

Biking while nonwhite: To make a truly bike-friendly city, consider riders who aren’t white and wealthy—and there are a lot of them.  (CityLab, February 8, 2019)

Supply, demand, or both?: Overdose fatalities from opioids are higher in some places than in others. IAPHS Member Shannon Monnat discusses the drivers and how they vary. (Institute for New Economic Thinking, February 14, 2019)

What your dollar buys you–or not: Dollar stores can help or harm lower-income neighborhoods. One Tulsa councilmember is working to limit them. (Washington Post, February 17, 2019) 

Mapping the Great White North for population health: the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds mapped cardiovascular risk for communities across Canada, finding differences in produce availability, prices, and what food choices are promoted.  (Cities & Health, December 17, 2018)

Disparities

Poor housing harms children: Housing can affect depression, anxiety, aggression, lead levels, and asthma in children. (How Housing Matters, January 2, 2019)

First Nation housing crisis in Ontario: Cat Lake First Nation is speaking out about health crises linked to housing woes, particularly mold. Tribal members experience skin diseases, pneumonia, and more. (CBC News, February 6, 2019) 

Jail worsens disparities: Over two million people are incarcerated in America. People of color, people in lower incomes, and people with disabilities are incarcerated at disproportionate rates, exposing them to more risks to physical and mental health problems in the long term. Their families and communities are impacted as well. (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Report  produced in partnership with UCSF, January 15, 2019)  

Firearm deaths double among young children: More white families with firearms in their homes may have contributed to increase in gun-related fatalities among 1-to-5 year olds. (Reuters January 28, 2019 from Pediatrics February 2019)

Variety in work routines isn’t the spice of life: Work schedule instability can negatively impact service-sector hourly workers’ health. (Washington Center for Equitable Growth, September 26, 2018, coming to the American Sociological Review February 2019)

When white players flee football: Black players in lower income communities often see fewer sports options and are more likely to play football—and face the risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Meanwhile, the proportion of white players decreases. (CityLab, February 2, 2019)

Programs & Policy

Why we’re spending less on Medicare: Study suggests per capita Medicare spending in the 65+ age group has declined due to slower growth in spending for cardiovascular disease, dementia, renal and genitourinary diseases, and acute illness aftercare. Medications are believed to play a role. (Health Affairs, February 2019)

Keeping people in smoke-free housing: Nonpunitive approaches (referrals to cessation programs, smoking shelters, reminders) can help tenants stay in housing while keeping public housing smoke free (RWJF in Governing.com, February 11, 2015)

Targeting prescriptions is not the opioid crisis cure: Limiting doses and monitoring prescriptions would have only a modest effect on opioid overdoses deaths, suggesting the need for different policies. (JAMA Network Open, 2019:2(2).)

Recessions can help…and harm health: Recessions can cause drops in car fatalities and air pollution, but financial struggles can increase blood pressure and health-harming behaviors. How a government responds can also help–or harm. IAPHS Blog Editor Sarah Burgard is quoted.  (Nature magazine, February 13, 2019)