This report highlights six public health approaches for addressing the rising incidence of substance use disorder and neonatal abstinence syndrome and draws out the critical role that state health leaders play in each.
Several states and territories, as well as many local governments, are going beyond recommendations and requiring individuals to wear face coverings when they are in public settings and spaces (i.e. grocery stores, retail stores, ...
The 2020 holiday season is coinciding with a nationwide surge of COVID-19 cases. With great concern that holiday travel to see loved ones may exacerbate community spread of the virus, many states are increasing public health measures ...
Responsible for planting, growing, harvesting, processing, and preparing the food we eat, agricultural workers are essential workers during the COVID-19 response to keep the U.S. food supply chain operating efficiently. But farmworkers are ...
This report highlights recommendations for structuring and advancing cross-agency approaches to substance use disorder prevention and treatment.
In an effort to help meet demand, some states and territories have joined interjurisdictional licensing compacts that allow a mental healthcare provider licensed in one state to provide care in another state—without needing to gain ...
Under the Tenth Amendment, states have the power to protect the health and welfare of their populations, including the authority to implement isolation and quarantine orders to limit the spread of disease. This post is an examination of ...
Public health officials are key in crafting policies and strategies that address the social determinants of health to advance health equity and improve population health.
Leveraging Healthy People 2030 to Build Non-Traditional Multisector Partnerships multisector partnerships, healthy people 2030, health equity, health outcomes, social services, health disparities, preventable disease, premature death, ...
As many state legislatures seek to expand vaccine exemptions, it’s important to understand the fundamental differences in exemption type and their impact on a community.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month and the importance of continued mental health promotion and suicide prevention efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we address the physical effects of COVID-19 through social distancing, mask ...
ASTHO staff identified a range of evidence-supported policies considered by state legislatures that could prevent ACEs. This report synthesizes these research and policy proposals and is intended for public health practitioners and ...
This week might have marked the beginning of summer, but many policymakers and health officials have their eye on the upcoming school year and what that might mean in terms of getting students vaccinated against COVID-19. According to a ...
Conditioning school attendance on student vaccinations is an evidence-based way of maintaining and increasing vaccine coverage. State law establishes school vaccination requirements which apply not only to public schools but often to ...
The opioid crisis continues to claim the lives of thousands across the United States and has cost the economy billions in health care, mortality, and criminal justice costs. In 2018, it’s estimated that 67,367 people died of overdose, with ...
This Health Policy Update is an overview of state legislative activity to increase financial stability for families during the COVID-19 pandemic which may help to prevent adverse childhood experiences.
In 2020 and early 2021, state policymakers took action to raise awareness of the impacts of racism on health outcomes, to reverse the damage of racist polices, and to implement policy changes to ensure that future policies are enacted with ...