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Emerging Trends in State Lyme Disease Legislation
May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month, an opportunity to recognize those impacted by the disease and increase awareness about one of the most common vector-borne diseases in the United States. Lyme disease, caused by the Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium and transmitted through the bite of an infected tick, has been a nationally notifiable disease since 1991, with health agencies reporting approximately 30,000 Lyme disease cases to CDC each year. Reported cases may only be the tip of the iceberg, however, since additional studies of disease diagnoses estimate that approximately 300,000 cases occur annually.
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Member Spotlight: Abinash Achrekar
In 2019, Abinash Achrekar, MD, became deputy secretary of the New Mexico Department of Health after serving as interim chief of cardiology at the University of New Mexico. He is immediate past-president of New Mexico’s American Heart Association. As deputy secretary, Achrekar participates in ASTHO matters on the department’s behalf. In this interview, Achrekar discusses his move from cardiology to state government, policy goals for the agency, and how a mobile unit is connecting asylum seekers along the U.S. southern border with health services.
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Recent State Legislative Activity to Ensure Mental Health Parity
May is Mental Health Month, a time to recognize the ways mental health is tied to state health agency priorities, such as chronic disease, substance misuse, and suicide prevention. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, there is a strong link between mental illness and chronic disease with, for example, depression increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease. To include mental health as part of a continuum of care with behavioral health, prevention, and physical care, policymakers at the federal and state levels have sought to increase the parity between the accessibility of mental health services and other care.