Prevention – Page 37 – AZ Dept. of Health Services News

Topics here will include issues that fall into the Prevention Division of the agency, which include – as the name implies – programs that help prevent disease in our state. You will find information about chronic diseases (cancer, heart health, breathing disorders) as well as tobacco use prevention. This area also includes education about Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Women, Infant and Children programs; both USDA programs that help provide nutrition to lower income residents.

Healthcare Associated Infection Report

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:19-07:00February 3rd, 2015|Prevention|

Last month the CDC issued their updated National and State Healthcare Associated Infections Progress Report, which provides healthcare-associated infections data from 2013. Overall, the report found improvements nationally in performance, with reductions in most categories. Between 2012 and 2013, we reduced catheter-associated urinary tract infections and surgical site infections. We’ve had significant improvements in central-line associated bloodstream [...]

Comments Off

Additional Measles Cases Found this Week

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:19-07:00January 28th, 2015|Preparedness, Prevention|

Last week I wrote about the 5 measles cases that we had identified as part of the nationwide Disneyland outbreak. Four of the AZ cases were among an unvaccinated Pinal County family that had visited Disneyland. This week over 1000 contacts were identified among our now 7 measles cases. Here’s a quick summary: One of [...]

AZ Interventions to Improve Vaccination Rates

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:19-07:00January 27th, 2015|Preparedness, Prevention|

Arizona law requires kids to get certain vaccines in order to attend school unless a doctor signs a medical exemption form or a parent signs a religious or personal belief exemption form. There’s been an increasing number of parents who are signing personal belief exemption forms - putting herd mmunity at risk. Every year we [...]

Comments Off

Unvaccinated Kids Come in Clusters

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:20-07:00January 27th, 2015|Preparedness, Prevention|

Courtesy: Journal of Pediatrics Last week’s issue of the Journal Pediatrics sheds light on something that we see here in Arizona - that parental refusal and delay of childhood vaccines is clustered in certain communities. The study was done in California and found that the percentage of kids who were under-immunized increased from 8% [...]

Comments Off

Vaccines & the Social Contract

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:20-07:00January 26th, 2015|Preparedness, Prevention|

At the core - vaccines are really about community protection. Our public health system depends on a solid network of providers that are available to vaccinate kids for all of the nasty infectious diseases that have plagued humanity for millennium. It’s not just access to care and a solid network of providers that vaccinate that [...]

Comments Off

Five AZ Measles Cases from a Disneyland Exposure

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:20-07:00January 23rd, 2015|Preparedness, Prevention|

By now you’ve probably heard about the measles outbreak associated with travel to Disneyland. CDC is reporting about 50 measles cases (in multiple states) who had been to Disneyland in late December. Arizona joined the list this week. This week we had 5 measles cases associated with the Disneyland outbreak, one in Maricopa County and 4 in Pinal [...]

Comments Off

Alcohol Treatment & Interventions in Arizona

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:20-07:00January 23rd, 2015|Behavioral Health, Prevention|

Substance abuse causes a host of bad public health outcomes including unintentional injuries, accidents, risk of domestic violence, medical problems, and even death…and alcohol abuse is at the top of the list. Drinking too much increases your chances of being injured or even killed. Alcohol is a factor in about 60% of homicides, 50% of [...]

Comments Off

Alcohol Poisoning in Arizona

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:20-07:00January 22nd, 2015|Behavioral Health, Prevention|

Excessive alcohol use is the 4th leading preventable cause of death in the US. In fact, excessive drinking causes about 10% of deaths among 20–64 year olds…with binge drinking responsible for about half of that 10%. Nationally, alcohol is a factor in about 60% of homicides, 50% of severe trauma injuries, and 40% of car [...]

Comments Off

Tribal Legislative Day to Focus on Suicide Prevention

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:20-07:00January 21st, 2015|Behavioral Health, Prevention|

Since 1995, the Arizona Commission of Indian Affairs, in cooperation with representatives from the state's Indian nations, hosts an Indian Nations and Tribes Legislative Day. This year’s event will focus on the health and wellness of native youth and will take place Tuesday, January 20th on the Capitol lawn in Phoenix. This year’s program will [...]

Comments Off

Influenza Now Widespread in Arizona

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:20-07:00January 20th, 2015|Preparedness, Prevention|

By now, it’s likely you know someone who’s gotten the flu this year. Last week, Arizona joined the ranks of 46 other states that are having “widespread” influenza activity. We’ve had 2,316 cases reported so far this season, with 761 of those being reported in the last week. That’s 130% more cases than this time [...]

Comments Off

Previous 363738 Next