Disease Investigations: Electronic Tools at Work
When you get sick with an infectious disease like Salmonella or the flu, your healthcare provider or the laboratory that conducted the test on you is required to report your illness to the county or state public health department. In Arizona, almost 100 different diseases are reportable. Public health disease detectives investigate reports of diseases to figure out whether an [...]
Health Impact Assessment Training
Our Bureau of Nutrition and Physical Activity, in collaboration with the Arizona Alliance For Livable Communities, is sponsoring a new, two-day Health Impact Assessment (HIA) training course designed and presented by Habitat Health Impact Consulting. The purpose of the training is to build the skills of local health departments, non-governmental organizations and other agencies to conduct HIA impact assessments in [...]
Tips for Enjoying this Beautiful Weather
While many parts of the country are still in the throes of extreme winter weather, here in Arizona, we're seeing warmer temperatures and beautiful weather. This is the time of year Arizonans are outside getting active. It's a great time to go for bike rides, take walks around the neighborhood, get the kids and dogs out to the park, or go [...]
Preparing for Foodborne Outbreaks in Arizona
Foodborne outbreaks are unpredictable and often require a rapid response that includes fieldwork and sample collection to identify the source of the outbreak. Our Food Safety Environmental Services Program recognizes the importance of being prepared for these unplanned emergencies, which is why we always have foodborne outbreak response kits at the ready. A few years ago, after attending a Food & Drug Administration sample [...]
2016 SNAP-Ed Strategies and Interventions Featured in National Toolkit for States
Our Bureau of Nutrition and Physical Activity competed successfully to have their SNAP-Ed interventions included in the 2016 SNAP-Ed Strategies and Interventions: An Obesity Prevention Toolkit for States. The comprehensive criteria used in the process focused on policy, systems and environmental change and the scoring process was rigorous. This national publication also includes many new cutting edge approaches from SNAP-Ed colleagues that were deemed [...]
Influenza Activity Reaches Widespread Status
This week's flu report shows our influenza activity in the state has reached a "widespread" classification. More than 3,700 cases of flu have been reported throughout Arizona, with 51 percent of those in Maricopa County. There have been 3,710 lab-confirmed influenza cases reported for the 2015-2016 influenza season in Arizona. Cases have been reported in all 15 counties, with the most in Maricopa 1,909; [...]