During a major crisis, such as an influenza pandemic, we might need to take extraordinary steps to ensure that healthcare workers have the medicines and supplies on hand to treat patients. State, local, and federal agencies all participate in the Strategic National Stockpile program to help ensure that these critical resources are available during disaster situations. [...]
Arizona ranks in the middle of the pack in infant mortality. We’re doing many things right to improve the health of our babies- but we have a way to go. Last fall we participated in a learning collaborative sponsored by the National Governors Association. About 160 folks met to begin the process developing a statewide [...]
Data collection and analysis is public health’s most valuable renewable resource- which is why we’ve made data analysis such a high priority. Yesterday, the Office of the Inspector General for HHS published a document that highlights the fact that disciplined data analyses can identify key factors that result in poor outcomes- giving us the information [...]
Today we published Arizona’s first ever comprehensive State Health Assessment. The objective of the State Health Assessment is to give Arizona’s public health and health care systems a clear tool to help drive future decision-making and resource allocation as we collectively design and implement evidence-based interventions to improve health and wellness outcomes across Arizona. The [...]
We rolled out a new electronic birth certificate system this week that will be a game-changer for public health. Our system (which took about 18 months to plan, create & launch) will help us collect better surveillance data for our Winnable Battles like obesity, tobacco use, substance abuse, and better data about birth outcomes that will help [...]
Congratulations to Arizona Public Health Association (AzPHA) for gaining national recognition for its work- snagging the 2013 National Affiliate of the Year Award from the American Public Health Association. For 85 years, AzPHA has helped shape public health in Arizona working to create smoke-free environments and access to healthcare. In this year alone, the Arizona affiliate [...]
Like conflict and wars, typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda) destroyed basic services for food, water, health care and shelter in the Central Philippines. This disaster was declared a “Level 3” Emergency by the UN, meaning there’s substantial impact on the health of people and it can’t be managed by a country or region alone. The [...]
One of the objectives in our Strategic Map is Building Awareness of Public Health Value. One of the ways we can do that is to educate community groups, students and other Stakeholders about the return on investment that public health provides and how the system works. Lucky for us the CDC recently published a PowerPoint [...]
Arizona’s public health and healthcare system teamed up with the ADHS including our Bureau of Public Health Emergency Preparedness and the Arizona Division of Emergency Management last week in one of the largest preparedness exercises of the year. The objective was to test and build preparedness capabilities across the emergency management system in AZ. More than 3,000 [...]
Guest blog by Jessica Rigler, Bureau of Epidemiology and Disease Control 11th Annual Valley Fever Awareness Week Valley Fever is a lung infection caused a fungus in the soil here in Arizona. People get it by breathing in Valley Fever spores in the air. Most people will have no symptoms or recover after a few [...]
