Population Health Roundup: December

We curate the top population health news for you each month. This month: scarlet fever, fracking and low birthweight, NAFTA and obesity, persistent Native American disparities, and more…

Place

• In rural America, community-driven solutions improve health (RWJ Culture of Health Blog, November 15, 2017)
  
• Water crises in Michigan continue (NY Times, November 24, 2017)
• Scarlet fever is making a comeback in England, Hong Kong, Vietnam, South Korea, Hong Kong, and mainland China —and no one knows why  (Vox, November 30, 2017)
• One Baltimore ZIP code is the worst for asthma patients, despite resources given to community prevention (WaPo, December 4, 2017)
• Pop health program in Los Angeles showed financial and mental health improvements for people experiencing homelessness (IT Health Analytics, December 6, 2017)
• Suicide rates are higher in rural areas across most demographics (JAMA, November 27, 2017)
• Fracking linked to underweight babies (The Verge, December 13, 2017)

Policy

• Who wins when a city gets smart? How Columbus aims to help poor black women get to work, school, and prenatal care  (CityLab, November 1, 2017)
• We know state-level policy matters, but how?  (Millbank Memorial Fund, October 31, 2017)  
• Housing the homeless can save health care costs down the road (Governing.com, December 6, 2017) 
• Nasty, NAFTA-related response: soaring obesity in Mexico (NYT, December 11, 2017)
• Vivian Towe on collaboration and population health (The Hill, December 13, 2017)

Disparities

• Marriage may reduce the risk of dementia (J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry, November 28, 2017)

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  Native Americans experience police violence, though few are talking about it  (UrbanWire, December 4, 2017)

• Pop health, evidence-based approach decreases kidney failure in American Indian/Alaskan Native people with diabetes  (American Journal of Kidney Diseases, in press)
• Nothing protects black women from dying in pregnancy and childbirth…not even being an expert in health disparities (ProPublica, December 7, 2017)
• Native Americans experience a very different health care system and life expectancy (NPR, December 12, 2017)
• Racial disparities among older Americans in rehabilitation (Boston University, December 14, 2017) 
• Segregation persists in Boston-area hospitals (Boston Globe, December 12, 2017)