Prevention – Page 38 – 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.

Obesity & Its Consequences

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:21-07:00January 4th, 2015|Prevention|

Research in 2014 found increasing evidence that a person’s nutrition and physical activity in the first 5 years of life has a huge impact on the person’s weight and health status as an adult. One study published in the New England Journal of Medicine this year suggested that overweight 5-year-olds are 300% more likely to [...]

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Prescription Painkiller Misuse and Abuse

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:21-07:00December 30th, 2014|Behavioral Health, Prevention|

The misuse and abuse of prescription painkillers continued to be a major public health challenge in 2014. Misuse and abuse of opiate prescription painkillers continued to kill more than car crashes in 2014….but we also completed some key interventions this year. In 2014 we released new Arizona Opioid Prescribing Guidelines for Arizona clinicians. They’re a [...]

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Tobacco Use

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:21-07:00December 29th, 2014|Behavioral Health, Prevention|

The Top 5 things that kill people in Arizona: heart disease, cancer, lung diseases like emphysema and chronic bronchitis, stroke, and injuries. In fact - these 5 conditions cause 63% of all deaths - which is nearly 18,000 people each year in Arizona (about 50 people/day). Tobacco use is a major factor in 4 out [...]

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Healthcare Associated Infections

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:21-07:00December 29th, 2014|Licensing, Prevention|

Healthcare-Associated infections continued to be a major (and largely preventable) threat to patient safety in Arizona during 2014 - although we had better results this year. The 2014 National and State Healthcare Associated Infections Progress Report found significant reductions for nearly all infections in Arizona. Arizona’s public health system takes a layered approach to preventing [...]

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Flu Season May Be a Hard One

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:23-07:00December 15th, 2014|Prevention|

We expect to see flu cases, hospitalizations, and even some deaths every year, but recent data from the CDC shows that this season may be a little different than the past few flu seasons. First, the flu strain causing the most cases so far this year is Influenza A (H3N2). Flu seasons in which H3 [...]

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Vaccine Financing and Availability Advisory Committee Report

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:23-07:00December 12th, 2014|Prevention|

Childhood immunizations are widely credited as one of the top ten public health achievements of the 20th century. For the 13 diseases included on the current U.S. childhood immunization schedule, 20 million cases of disease are prevented per year, 42,000 lives are saved, and the healthcare system realizes $13.6 million in direct medical costs (see [...]

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Mission of Mercy Starts Friday

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:23-07:00December 11th, 2014|Prevention|

Good oral health is critical to a person’s overall health. Tooth decay and gum disease are linked with heart disease, stroke and diabetes, and premature births. Many people in our community can’t afford dental care, so they suffer from poor oral health that affects their ability to speak, smile, smell, taste, touch and eat. That’s [...]

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Reflections on Global Polio Eradication

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:23-07:00December 4th, 2014|Prevention|

For the last several years global public health has been coming down the home-stretch to eradicate Polio from the globe - making it the 3rd infectious disease to be eliminated - joining smallpox and rinderpest. Polio incidence has dropped 99% in the last 20 years…going from 350,000 cases in 1988 to only 279 cases so [...]

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New Menu Nutrition Labels on the Way

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:23-07:00December 3rd, 2014|Prevention|

Americans eat about one-third of their calories away from home - meaning that consumer information at restaurants are an important piece of information that folks need in order to make good choices. This week, the FDA took a big step that will eventually provide the public with information when they eat out. The new rules [...]

New AZ Opioid Prescribing Guidelines

By Will Humble|2017-02-10T09:49:23-07:00December 2nd, 2014|Prevention|

Last week we proudly released new Arizona Opioid Prescribing Guidelines for Arizona clinicians. They’re a voluntary, consensus set of principles and best practices for prescribing opioids. The Guidelines were built using the expertise of practitioners from across Arizona including representatives from professional associations, health plans, academic institutions, federal healthcare providers, and many others. The new guidelines [...]

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