As we kick off our annual Immunization Conference this week, we have some exciting news to share. The proportion of children exempt from vaccines in Arizona continues to decrease slightly compared to last year. Every year, state and local public health staff work with schools to gather immunization and coverage reports for children enrolled in [...]
Our Core Accreditation Team has been working on preparing thousands of pages of documentation to submit to the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB), and we met our targeted date of March 31st. This would not have happened without the effort of our staff from across the department who provided the Core Accreditation Team with examples, documents, and details up [...]
On April 1st, a delegation of state and local public health professionals from Arizona joined up with experts across the county at CDC's Zika Action Plan Summit in Atlanta. Arizona has already done quite a bit in preparation for the arrival of Zika virus in Arizona, including developing response plans, meeting monthly with state and [...]
The Week of the Young Child™ is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) that celebrates early learning, young children (birth through age 8), their teachers, and families. The purpose of this weeklong event is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and [...]
Where you live, learn, work, and play affects your health. Your opportunity to engage in healthy behaviors can be strongly impacted by the built environment around you, such as your home and neighborhood. There are some barriers that our public health system in Arizona is working to identify and develop strategies improve our communities. Thirty-five [...]
The 2014 Arizona Health Status and Vital Statistics Report, also known as the “Big Book,” presents an annual update of information on vital statistics and the health status of Arizona residents. It provides statewide number and rates of vital events such as births, stillbirths and deaths, and population-based data on pregnancies, abortions, marriages, divorces, reportable diseases, [...]
The food we eat affects many aspects of our lives. There's a direct link between poor nutrition and many of the leading causes of death in America such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes. Healthy eating is important at every age. Most of us don't eat enough fruits, vegetables or whole grains, but we [...]
Last week, 25 public health tuberculosis (TB) nurses, epidemiologists and program managers from across the state came together to talk Arizona TB. This group represented 13 counties and three tribal nations, and spent the day talking about what they’ve done, what they do, and what they’re working toward. The control of tuberculosis can never go [...]
This week, April 4 through 10, we’re celebrating National Public Health Week (NPHW) 2016, a week that helps us recognize the work all of us do to keep our communities and our families healthy. During the first full week of April each year, the American Public Health Association (APHA) brings communities across the United States [...]
Living in Arizona, extreme heat is a situation we are all too familiar with each summer. High temperatures from May through September contribute to more than 118 deaths and more than 2,000 emergency room visits annually here in our state. Right now, it’s not that hot, but we know the scorching Arizona heat is right around the [...]
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