RWJF News Digest: Public Health

This frequently updated news digest on the subject of Public Health highlights key articles from major journals, news publications and blogs. The digest is a free service of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Dr. Jonathan Woodson, Department of Defense: National Prevention Strategy Series
NewPublicHealth, 09/11/2012
As part of its National Prevention Strategy series, NewPublicHealth spoke with Jonathan Woodson, MD, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs in the Department of Defense, about suicide prevention as well as the department’s overall approach to wellness and prevention for military, veterans and their families.

Kids' Vaccine Exemptions Too Easy to Obtain: Study
HealthDay, 09/10/2012
Medical exemption rates for required vaccinations for kindergarten students are higher in states where such exemptions are easier to get, which compromises group immunity and poses a threat to children and others who really should not be immunized due to underlying health conditions, a new study suggests.

Door to Door in the Heartland, Preaching Healthy Living
New York Times, Sabrina Tavernise, 09/10/2012
It is part of a broad national effort set in motion by the law to nudge a health care system geared toward responding to illness to one that tries to stop people from getting sick in the first place. To that end, the law created the $10 billion Prevention and Public Health Fund, the largest-ever federal investment in community prevention.

When Heat Kills: Global Warming As Public Health Threat
NPR, Richard Harris, 09/10/2012
Epidemiologist George Luber at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the most obvious risk from a warming world is killer heat. A deadly heat wave that struck Chicago in 1995 made many people aware of how disastrous sustained high temperatures can be.

CDC: West Nile Up 25 Percent This Week
UPI, 09/06/2012
There were 1,993 cases of West Nile virus disease in people, including 87 deaths, in the United States as of Tuesday, health officials said.

Nearly Half of Georgia School Districts Are Tobacco-Free
Associated Press, 09/06/2012
State health officials say nearly half of Georgia's school districts have implemented a 100% tobacco-free policy. The Georgia Department of Public Health says 87 of the state's 181 school districts, or 48%, are on board. Under the policy, no student, staff member or school visitor is permitted to use any tobacco product or E-cigarette, at any time on school property.

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