Political Convention Food Tested by Our Lab
Our State Lab performed chemical and biological surveillance testing on food samples from the Republican National Convention. We were selected to participate in the testing because of our reputation and previous experience working with the Food Safety Inspection Service for the detection of biological and chemical agents in food. The samples arrived at the State Laboratory the week of August 20 [...]
Arizona’s New Chronic Disease Strategic Plan
I’m happy to share our new Arizona Chronic Disease Strategic Plan. This past year, our team from the Bureau of Tobacco & Chronic Disease worked with community partners from across the state on a new guiding document for chronic disease prevention and health promotion. This strategic plan will be used by ADHS, county health departments, and community partners to advance chronic disease policies, systems and [...]
Long-Term Weight Loss
Lots of people tell me it is easy to drop pounds quickly when starting a diet. Keeping that weight off long-term seems harder. Particularly for older women, natural declines in energy needs after menopause make long-term weight loss even more challenging. Traditional behavioral treatments for obesity have focused on calorie intake and have poor long-term outcomes. A new study published [...]
Our New e-Public Health Classroom
I’ve mentioned in previous posts about how I’d like to build more bridges between the Arizona’s academic public health infrastructure and Arizona’s public health system. After all- our goal is to use evidence-based practices to drive our interventions- and the U of A’s expertise at the Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health is a key resource within AZ's public health [...]
September: Childhood Obesity Awareness Month
Protecting the health and wellbeing of our children is critical to the future of Arizona. September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Arizona ranks 15th in the nation in childhood obesity with almost 18% of Arizona children (10 to 17) being obese. Obesity puts our children at early risk for conditions we normally associate with adulthood - Type 2 diabetes, [...]
The Future of Health Care in AZ
AHCCCS will host public meetings across the state to provide additional information regarding the future of Arizona’s Medicaid program. Here's the Public Meeting Schedule and more information.