In the midst of nationwide outbreaks of measles, and increases in Arizona cases of vaccine-preventable diseases, Arizona’s vaccine coverage rates continue to decrease. This places more Arizona children, families, and communities at risk for vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks. For the third year in a row, non-medical exemption rates--the percentage of students exempt from one or more [...]
Today we know more than ever about the importance of children's earliest years in shaping their learning and development. Yet, never before have the needs of young children and their families been more pressing. According to Harvard’s “Center on the Developing Child,” there are three basic foundations of lifelong health that are fundamental to early [...]
As we wrap up Arizona Public Health Week and National Public Health Week, today we published our Annual Report, which highlights many of the great accomplishments of our agency from the last fiscal year: July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018. As you will read in the Annual Report, we made great strides in continuing [...]
Bullying has emerged as an important public health issue prompting the need for effective prevention measures and interventions in schools and community settings. Significant long-term implications for victims of bullying include mental trauma, decreased school performance, and in extreme cases, suicidal ideation. Children with special health care needs may be at increased risk of being [...]
Today marks the start of Arizona Public Health Week and National Public Health Week, a recognition of the work public health does behind the scenes to improve the overall health of our communities. Aligned with National Public Health Week's 2019 focus on Creating the Healthiest Nation, the State Health Assessment (SHA) examines the health of [...]
We recently launched an interactive dashboard that is providing timely data about the opioid epidemic in Arizona. The dashboard is a tool that ADHS and our partners are using to develop interventions that will keep our communities safe. The data is a valuable resource to help identify trends. For example, the data from a new [...]
Late on Friday, working with Pima County Health Department, our Arizona State Public Health Laboratory confirmed Arizona’s first case of measles of 2019. A family and their young child traveled internationally to an area with active measles cases and the child became sick with measles. The child’s health is improving now, but the work of [...]
The Rio Rico Medical and Fire District recently became Arizona’s sixth emergency medical services (EMS) agency to be recognized as a Treat and Refer EMS agency by the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS). The Treat and Refer Recognition Program increases patient access to primary and preventive care. The program recognizes EMS agencies that demonstrate [...]
While we’ve made significant strides in reducing cigarette smoking among youth in Arizona, the use of electronic nicotine products, also called e-cigarettes or vape, are on the rise. According to a recent Vital Signs published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one in four high school students and one in 14 middle school [...]
Today we released a new report highlighting recent activities in the fight to reduce opioid overdoses and deaths in our state, and a look at opioid surveillance data in the past year. The report highlights some areas of great progress: ADHS established final rules for pain management clinics and began taking applications in January 2019 [...]
