The Forgotten Plague: Tuberculosis in America
Tonight at 8 pm PBS American Experience will feature an episode called "The Forgotten Plague: Tuberculosis in America." Tuberculosis was the deadliest killer in human history prior to 1900. In fact, TB (then sometimes called Consumption) killed about 14% of all the people who ever lived prior to 1900. TB rifled through the US at the turn of the century, sometimes taking out entire communities, especially [...]
Everybody Needs a Good Night’s Sleep
Food, water, air, shelter and sleep. Those are the Big 5 things that everyone needs. Everybody needs a good dose of restful sleep to stay healthy and thrive...but the amount of sleep changes throughout the lifetime. Last week, the National Sleep Foundation came out with some interesting and helpful recommendations for how much sleep folks need at various ages. When people don't get a good night's sleep it's [...]
From the Harvard School of Public Health
The new Healthy Heart Score developed by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health gives people an easy way to estimate their risk of developing cardiovascular disease based on simple lifestyle habits. The free web-based survey also gives users practical tips for improving their scores by incorporating heart-healthy habits into their daily lives. The calculator walks users through a series [...]
We’re Looking for Leaders Across the Border
Leaders across Borders (LaB) is an advanced leadership development program funded by the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission. The idea is to build bi-national leadership capacity of public health, health care, and other community sectors to improve the health of communities in the U.S.- México border region. Right now (and through February 13) we’re looking for public health, health care, and [...]
Interventions to Improve Vaccination Rates in AZ Schools
Over the last couple of years, we’ve been working with partners using data collected by the U of A to stem the tide of lower vaccination rates in Arizona schools. Last year’s initiatives included implementation of our Action Plan to Address Vaccine Exemptions which included updating the vaccine exemption form (which reinforces to parents know how important it is to [...]
Arizona School Vaccination Rates Posted
With all the news about Arizona’s measles outbreak, I’m sure you’ve heard just how important vaccination is for our community. Public health agencies study vaccine coverage data to understand how well communities are protected from preventable disease and to make targeted decisions about how to contain an outbreak. For example, if there’s a disease outbreak in a school, the local [...]