Here you will find topics ranging from current events that affect public health in Arizona to overall information about the Arizona Department of Health Services
Two things happen when you turn 50. First, you start getting invitations to join the AARP in the mail every couple of weeks (until they give up). Second, your doctor tells you it’s time for your colonoscopy screening. That’s the one that puts a lump in your throat. At 51, I finally bit the bullet [...]
Due to scheduled maintenance, users may experience intermittent access to https://directorsblog.health.azdhs.gov on Tuesday, November 3 from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience.
Teens and drug experts across the land will connect for the 2nd annual National Drug Facts Week this week. The week-long event is sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)- and brings together teens and scientific experts in community events across the country to discuss scientific facts about drug abuse- including prescription drug [...]
Did you know that according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration more than twice as many children are killed in pedestrian/vehicle incidents on Halloween compared to other days throughout the year? So this Halloween, take a minute and review some simple safety tips with your children. Children love Halloween time, so be sure to assure safety for everyone [...]
Prescription drugs can be safe and effective at treating illnesses- but leftovers are also tempting for experimental teens- and the misuse of narcotic prescriptions is an increasingly urgent public health problem in Arizona. In fact, more than 1,100 Arizonans died from prescription drug poisoning from misuse and abuse last year- which is more than the number [...]
You can think of the border public health advocacy network as a binational matrix of public health partners that collaborate to improve conditions along the US-Mexico border. The network includes national organizations like the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission along with state based partnerships like the Arizona-Mexico Commission and the annual U.S.-Mexico Border Governor’s Conference. Community based binational partnerships [...]
I was fortunate to be able to attend parts of this year’s conference of state health officers in Portland. Each year the folks in my job get together with the CDC and other federal partners and public health support organizations to strategize about the coming year’s national public health priorities and share best practices and resources. The [...]
This year’s theme for Primary Care Week is “Innovations in Primary Care”, focusing on ways health systems can reinvent their practices to promote continuous, comprehensive, and coordinated health care for their patients. Community Health Centers are models of comprehensive primary care, delivering these services in medically under-served areas to persons of all ages regardless of [...]
Our Women’s and Children’s Health team will be hosting a conference in Phoenix titled “Girls and Women’s Health across the Lifespan.” on Tuesday, November 8. The conference features the Life Course Perspective. The conference agenda is packed full of sessions that outline evidence-based tools and strategies for professional public health folks to build their inventory of [...]
Last week we awarded 4 community-based contracts for the new Personal Responsibility Education Program funds to prevent teen pregnancy in AZ. The funding we’ll be passing through to our new contractors is part of the Affordable Care Act- and requires programs educate adolescents on both abstinence and contraception as ways to prevent pregnancy and STDs. All [...]
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