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
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.
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.
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.
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 ...
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 ...
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 largely preventable, healthcare-associated infections are the most common complication of hospital care, are a leading cause of death in the United States, and increased significantly during the pandemic. States have proposed ...
In this infographic, ASTHO highlights some of the biggest takeaways, successes, and data collected from the Breastfeeding Learning Community.
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 spoke with Greg Endler, and Michele Roberts of the Washington State Department of Health as they share reflections on working to improve vaccine confidence in their jurisdiction both prior to and after the COVID-19 pandemic.