The Scoop on Fluoride
This month the EPA and HHS proposed a change that would lower the recommended level of fluoride in drinking water. A small amount of fluoride is good in drinking water because it prevents tooth decay. The idea is to maximize the health benefits of water fluoridation by continuing to prevent tooth decay while reducing the possibility of too much fluoride exposure for children. There are several reasons [...]
Teen Pregnancy on the Decline in AZ
Our Bureau of Public Health Statistics just released a new 10-year trend report on Teen Pregnancy in Arizona, 1999-2009. Some of the key findings are Teen pregnancy rates dropped 34% in AZ from 1999 to 2009. There were a total of 12,537 pregnancies to teens younger than 19 in 2009, which was the fewest number reported during this ten year period. [...]
Teen Pregnancy Prevention Resources in AZ
To combat teen pregnancy, ADHS uses multiple approaches that best fit with needs of local communities. Our Bureau of Women’s & Children’s Health has implemented teen pregnancy prevention programs since 1997 and currently administers the Abstinence Education Program and Comprehensive Education using lottery dollars and new federal funding authorized through the Affordable Care Act. The federal Title V Abstinence Education Program [...]
Update on the Governor’s Budget Proposal Regarding Persons with Serious Mental Illness
On January 15, 2011, Governor Brewer released her proposed budget for next fiscal year (which begins July 1, 2011). One of the budget items would change AHCCCS (Medicaid) eligibility for adults without children (called childless adults). The ADHS currently provides behavioral health services to approximately 5,200 persons with serious mental illnesses that are childless adults. While it may appear, and [...]
Ensuring Healthy Birth Outcomes
What’s the most important thing we can do to ensure a good birth outcome? During the 1980s and 1990s, public health focused on the importance of prenatal care and ensuring that every woman got into prenatal care early in the pregnancy and continued with consistent care throughout the pregnancy. Programs like Health Start enlisted lay health workers in communities to [...]
What’s Respiratory Syncytial Virus?
Respiratory syncytial virus (or RSV) is another respiratory infection that mainly affects little kids and circulates every year. It occurs in the winter, like flu, but flu and RSV usually don’t peak at the same time. Since our flu season is early this year, it looks like our RSV season may be a little later than usual. We’ve had quite a [...]