Prevention

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.

Multiple Chronic Conditions- an Expensive Public Health Threat

By |2017-02-10T09:51:31-07:00October 17th, 2011|Prevention|

I’ve written several pieces over the last few weeks highlighting our efforts to better integrate primary healthcare into the treatment plans for folks with mental illnesses- but the issue of providing better coordinated care for folks with multiple chronic medical conditions is really far bigger than this integration issue.  More than 25% of Americans have multiple [...]

Arizona’s Food Safety Network

By |2017-02-10T09:51:31-07:00October 11th, 2011|General, Prevention|

The Listeria monocytogenes outbreak has captured the public’s attention these days- so I thought I’d do a piece on Arizona’s food safety network. Let’s start at the farm & ranch.  The Arizona Department of Agriculture is responsible for ensuring that the base of the food safety pyramid is solid in Arizona.  They have several divisions that are [...]

Free CME program for behavioral health providers on tobacco cessation

By |2011-10-10T09:24:54-07:00October 10th, 2011|Behavioral Health, General, Prevention|

Arizona Smokers' Helpline, the University of Arizona, Mel and Enid Zuckerman, and the College of Public Health will present a free CME conference "Evidence-based Interventions for Tobacco Cessation in Populations with Mental Illness Challenges," Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. to behavioral health providers. The conference will take place at the [...]

Pancreatic Cancer Prevention

By |2017-02-10T09:51:32-07:00October 6th, 2011|General, Prevention|

You probably heard that Steve Jobs- the former head of Apple died this week of pancreatic cancer.  While pancreatic cancer is the 10th most common kind of cancer in the US, it’s the 4th most common cause of cancer death.  It often has a poor prognosis partly because people often don’t have any symptoms until [...]

Run with the Herd

By |2017-02-10T09:51:32-07:00September 30th, 2011|General, Prevention|

Pretty much everybody knows that getting an annual influenza vaccine protects them from getting influenza- but fewer people realize that getting vaccinated saves other people’s lives as well.  That’s because if a large percentage of the population takes advantage of the vaccine (called herd immunity) we can reduce the overall spread of the disease- and save [...]

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AZ HIV Surveillance Hits the Mark

By |2011-09-29T08:25:39-07:00September 29th, 2011|General, Prevention|

Arizona’s HIV surveillance hit the mark in the latest CDC national Incidence report.  Arizona led the nation in testing and treatment completeness and test results. We’re very proud to have published the first ever Arizona specific HIV incidence estimate which is now posted on our website.

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What’s HPV Anyway?

By |2011-09-28T08:14:05-07:00September 28th, 2011|General, Prevention|

Issues regarding the vaccine that prevents infection with the human papillomavirus (also called HPV) have been in the news lately- so I thought I’d do a thumbnail sketch on it this week.  HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection. Most people with HPV don’t have symptoms or health problems from it- and 90% of the time the [...]

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Raising Arizona Babies

By |2017-02-10T09:51:34-07:00September 19th, 2011|Prevention|

Do you know someone who’s pregnant and needs help finding low-cost prenatal care? Someone looking for post-partum depression resources; help with breastfeeding; low-cost dental care; or the nearest WIC clinic?  One great resource that can help is our Pregnancy & Breastfeeding Hotline.  The Hotline (1-800-833-4642) is a statewide service funded by our Title V Maternal and [...]

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AZ’s New Pandemic Readiness Plan

By |2011-09-16T08:19:00-07:00September 16th, 2011|General, Preparedness, Prevention|

Remember our responses to the 2009-2010 H1N1 Pandemic?  One of the reasons why Arizona’s public health responses were so effective was that we had a well researched and tested pandemic readiness plan.  But... public health readiness isn’t a static process, and once the pandemic was finished we set out to revise our plan with lessons learned.  Over [...]

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Healthy Homes

By |2017-02-10T09:51:34-07:00September 14th, 2011|General, Prevention|

For decades, removing lead (Pb) from the environment has been a public health priority because residual contamination from decades of using products containing harmful lead continued to cause health problems.  Fortunately, the public health interventions (removing Pb from gas, paint, and cans) worked and today 99.9% of Arizona kids have blood lead levels below the standard.  As [...]

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