American Journal of Public Health Podcast

As you may know National Public Health Week (#NPHW) occurs every year during the first full week of April. The mission of Week is to showcase the importance of public health in our daily life and promote its strengthening. The theme for 2019 is “For science. For action. For health.” I have invited scientists and policymakers to talk about how they can base policymaking on scientific evidence, how they can communicate the evidence to make it available for the public health actors, and, as a result, how they can proactively advance the health of the public.

Regional Editor of AJPH, Professor Stella Yu, reviews some articles recently published in the January to March issues of AJPH, including: Editor’s Choice on AJPH podcasts, pain management, issues facing American health workers; opioid related mortality; fast food children’s menu improvements; and public health and the faith community. The guest presentation is on Rates and Medical Necessity of Cesarean Delivery in the Era of the Two-Child Policy in China. Supplement issues on health disparities and health promotion research.

A multifaith team of guest editors, led by Ellen Idler, and comprising Anwar Khan, Jeff Levin, and Tyler VanderWeele, has assembled a set of articles illustrating how faith-based organizations have contributed to public health at the local, state, or global levels. I further discuss if the mission of public health is compatible with views expressed by some religious congregations that appear to contradict the fundamental principles of equity and health. My interviewees are Ellen Idler (Emory), Bill Foege (Emory), Rob, Pyne (St Norbert) , and Mimi Kiser (Emory).

This pod discusses a paper by Himmelstein and Venkataramani about the prevalence of low income and of poverty among female health care workers in the US and estimates the ability of a minimum wage of $15 to improve the condition of the currently 1.7 million female health care workers who live in poverty. My interviewees are: Kayty Himmelstein, one of the authors; Mandy Rae Hartz from the Healthcare Workers Council of the United Steel Workers; Henrie Treadwell who is with Community Voices in Atlanta; and Paul Leigh, who is a labor and health economist in Davis, California. Who are the health care workers? How prevalent are low wages and poverty among them? Is the culprit the health care industry or more generally gender and racial inequity? Finally, if the minimum wage was raised to $15 per hour, what would be the impact for health care workers, and also for US workers in general.

The dramatic epidemic of opioid addiction and death by overdose has obscured the fact that millions of people suffer from pain, need to be treated, but are denied access to care. The two problems of pain management and opioid addiction are intricate and the situation has grown out of control, there is little or no evidence to support an alternative approach, and the possible solutions are years away from being even implemented. My interviewees are Richard Bonnie, Mark Rothstein, Mark Schumacher, and Daniel Carr.

Regional Editor of AJPH, Professor Stella Yu, reviews selected articles recently published in AJPH, including: (10/18) Influenza Epidemic; Tobacco Crop Substitution in China; PRAMS Studies; Lung Cancer Screening; (11/18) Lead Poisoning; Parent-Based Intervention to Improve Child Restraint Use Among Kindergarteners in China(guest presentation); (12/18) Fighting the Health Challenges of Diabetes in Hong Kong: A Window Into Mainland China(guest presentation)

Is there a risk for the epidemic of legal and illegal opioid consumption to extend to Mexico? Is this risk only a Mexican problem or would a Mexican epidemic have consequences in the United States too?

My interviewees are Dr. David Goodman-Meza, from the Division of Infectious Diseases, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, Professor Larry Palinkas, Chair, Department of Children, Youth and Families, at the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work of the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, and Professor Steffanie Strathdee, Associate Dean of Global Health Sciences, at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine.

Regional Editor of AJPH, Professor Stella Yu, reviews some articles recently published in the December issue of AJPH, including: Editor’s Choice on Public Health Voices from China, The 20 most important and most preventable health problems of China (guest presentation); Comparing US and China’s shifting health challenges; and On health priorities, BRICS countries and equity.

We have arrived at the 100 year anniversary of the deadly Great Influenza pandemic of 1918, often unfairly referred to in our collective memory as the Spanish Flu. Are we better prepared against the next deadly influenza epidemic? Opinions in public health diverge. My interviewees are Michael Greenberger (Center for Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland), Barbara Jester (Battelle contractor at CDC) and Mark Rothstein, Associate Editor of AJPH.

Regional Editor of AJPH, Professor Stella Yu, reviews some articles recently published in AJPH, including: (7/18) Gun violence; Systemic Review and Meta-analysis of IPV Studies; Health Challenges and Opportunities of Aging China (guest presentation) ; (8/18) Short Term Adverse Effects of Austerity Policies on mortality risks; Could Social Bots Pose a Threat to Public Health? ; Early Childhood Caries in 193 United Nations Countries, 2007–2017; (9/18) Child Maltreatment; Prevalence and Risk Factors Associated with Workplace Violence against General Practitioners in Hubei, China (guest presentation).