The ASTHO State Health Policy team provides brief updates on 5 of the ten state health policy issues to watch in 2022: mental and behavioral health, rural health, e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco products, HIV and PFAS.
Adopting a public health approach to substance use by implementing harm reduction policies across all levels of government can help communities address the overdose crisis. This post analyzes e
This ASTHOBrief discusses how breastfeeding acts as a protective factor for maternal mental health, negative impacts of COVID-19 on breastfeeding and maternal mental health, state actions to improve maternal mental healthcare and lactation ...
Tobacco use causes 480,000 premature deaths each year, making it the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. In collaboration with CDC, ASTHO is leading an effort to explore how states can use Medicaid data to quantify ...
Over the past several years, states and jurisdictions have continued to implement important policies to reduce tobacco and nicotine use, including increasing tobacco prices, expanding areas deemed “smoke-free,” limiting the sale of ...
Creating community gathering spaces, or placemaking, has garnered considerable attention in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Youth sports is an important outgrowth of placemaking as they can be a protective factor in preventing ACEs and ...
Continuing ASTHO’s Legislative Prospectus series—which highlights the top 10 public health policy issues for 2022—this post focuses on mental and behavioral health, as well as supporting the public health workforce.
There are significant disparities in pregnancy-related outcomes in the United States. Many of these deaths considered preventable, so state and federal policy makers are taking steps to improve health outcomes for pregnant people.
The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted youth mental health, particularly as a result of school closures, social isolation, family economic hardship, fear of family loss or illness, and reduced access to healthcare. However, states ...
Public health agencies are working to reduce dementia risk and to optimize the health and well-being of people living with dementia and their caregivers.
In this infographic, ASTHO highlights some of the biggest takeaways, successes, and data collected from the Breastfeeding Learning Community.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a particularly negative impact on the mental health of adolescent girls. Fortunately, state legislators have been addressing school-based mental health through legislation enacted since the beginning of the ...
While COVID-19 is still present and ever-changing, public health professionals must also grapple with new challenges such as monkeypox, increasing firearm homicide, and widespread heat waves. In the wake of such emergencies, public health ...
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 ...
ASTHO, with support from CDC, launched the first cohort of the Linking Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System and Clinical Outcomes Data Multi-Jurisdiction Learning Community in October 2021. This brief examines themes that emerged ...
The findings detailed in this report were gathered during a series of School Behavioral Health Advisory Committee convenings in spring 2021. The goal was identify policy gaps and strategies for delivering behavioral health services in ...