Summer is right around the corner, and it’s time to get ready for the sweltering heat season from May to September, when Arizona becomes one of the hottest places on earth. No one is risk-free when it comes to deadly summer heat. Arizona hospitals saw an annual average of 2,858 heat related emergency department visits [...]
At the Arizona Department of Health Services, our nurses are involved in the prevention, education, advocacy, activism, assessment, and evaluation of public health across our state. They play an essential role in preventing disease and educating the public to promote communities’ health and safety. We’re proud to have nurses in Newborn Screening who work to [...]
As Arizona's statewide public health agency, we spent much of last week celebrating National Public Health Week by focusing on you and your community, wherever you are in Arizona. Our hope was to draw more attention to the issues that are important to improving the public's health and the power of community across our state. [...]
Fourteen percent of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, in Arizona that number is much higher at 25%, likely due to the landscape and environment we live in. USDA Economic Research Service found that residents living in the United States’ most rural counties may have more difficulty finding and using health care services in [...]
Like physical health, mental health is important throughout the lifespan. It continuously affects how we think, feel, and act. It also plays an important role in our physical and social well-being. Many factors can impact our mental health, including early adverse life experiences, experiences related to chronic medical conditions, biological factors, feelings of loneliness or [...]
Programming for reproductive and sexual health improves the health of women of childbearing age before, during, and after pregnancy. An estimated 2 million unplanned pregnancies are prevented each year due to family planning services obtained through Title X, Medicaid, and other publicly funded programs. The ADHS Family Planning Program offers a statewide, clinic-based approach. Cost-effective [...]
Public health draws on a science base that is multi-disciplinary. This allows us to gather knowledge from a broad range of disciplines including medicine, epidemiology, sociology, psychology, criminology, education, and economics. Coupled with a cross-sector approach, public health is poised to tackle violence prevention that strives to provide the maximum benefit for the largest number [...]
National Public Health Week (NPHW) allows us to recognize the contributions of public health and highlight issues that are important to improving our nation's health. For more than 25 years, the American Public Health Association (APHA) has served as the organizer of NPHW. Every year, APHA develops a national campaign to educate the public, policymakers [...]
A recent press release from CDC highlighted the increasing threat of Candida auris (C. auris) because it is often antimicrobial resistant (available treatments may not work), can cause severe disease, including death, and is spreading among healthcare facilities in the United States. Arizona identified its first clinical case of C. auris in 2020, and there [...]
March has been celebrated as National Nutrition Month for 50 years by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Registered Dietitian Nutritionists work in a variety of settings including health care, education, industry, and government. Public health nutrition is the application of nutrition and public health principles to design programs, systems, policies and environments that aim [...]
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