I am pleased to announce that we have initiated a search to fill two open eXtension fellowships focused on health and well being. The work of the fellows will broadly focus on building the capacity of the Cooperative Extension System to ensure that all people have an equal opportunity to experience optimal health and well being across the lifespan. Much of this will be accomplished through a Connect Extension subgroup where fellows will work as a team to foster identification and sharing of...

Friendly Reminder! On August 18, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will unveil the latest edition of Healthy People! Healthy People 2030 is a set of science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving health and well-being in the United States. During the webcast, we’ll highlight the new Healthy People 2030 goals and objectives and provide an overview of the development process. We’ll also feature guest speakers from HHS who will discuss Healthy People 2030 data,...

Background • Public health officials across the country are reporting spikes in drug overdose deaths that appear to be associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, with over 30 states reporting increases in opioid-involved overdose deaths primarily related to illicit fentanyl1 • Public health emergencies typically affect communities and individuals in a variety of ways, including economic loss and instability, emotional or physical isolation, additional stressors from mass at-home confinement, and...

A recent article published in the American Journal of Public Health argued that in our new world order, lack of interent access affects the health of people and communities . More now than ever interent access is critical for routine health care access, economic stability, education, physical health and well-being, information and more. Three years ago the FCC was urged to consider BIA a social determinant of health. The pandemic has laid bare the limitations and inequities of the current...

Health Equity: A Blog Series The Coronavirus pandemic has upended life for people across the United States and the world. But the experience and severity are not equal. In the United States, deep inequities, rooted in a history of exploitation and maltreatment of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), are making the COVID crisis worse. Intersecting communities of people, including people with disabilities, LGBTQ individuals, and women, have been systematically “otherized” to the...

While we argue about whether or not it had to get this bad, this news reporting shows in maps and active charts down to the state level the evidence of how bad it really is and where it is worse, how the testing is going, who is wearing masks or social distancing, and how other countries are doing. Worth a look. https://www.vox.com/future-per...ica-maps-charts-data

This is a well cited article (author Yong has been on national news shows) detailing what has gone wrong: ""almost everything that went wrong with America’s response to the pandemic was predictable and preventable. A sluggish response by a government denuded of expertise allowed the coronavirus to gain a foothold. Chronic underfunding of public health neutered the nation’s ability to prevent the pathogen’s spread. A bloated, inefficient health-care system left hospitals ill-prepared for the...

Immigrant workers and their families are a dynamic force behind recent population upturns or stabilization across rural America. In fact, between 2010 and 2016, immigrants from around the world were responsible for 37 percent of net rural population growth. Rural communities that rely on the economic drivers of tourism and recreation and essential services like health care and food production have been hit hard by the impact of COVID-19. Due to multiple risk and systemic factors, the many...

Although COVID-19 continues to spread, businesses are beginning to re-open to the public. As they do, it is essential that they do so in a safe, thoughtful, and science-supported manner. In North Carolina, the NC Restaurant and Lodging Association, NC DHHS, Visit NC, and NC State Extension have collaborated to create Count on Me NC. This public health initiative provides retail food establishments, businesses, and their visitors/guests with training and guidance needed to keep individuals...

The source of what the philosopher Immanuel Kant called “the moral law within” may be mysterious, but its role in the social order is not. In any nation short of dictatorship some form of moral compact, implicit or explicit, should be the basis of a just society. Without a common sense of what is “right,” groups fracture and the fragments wander. Science and knowledge can guide action; they do not cause action. No scientific doubt exists that, mostly, circumstances outside health care...

Risk factors for Alzheimer’s dementia may be apparent as early as our teens and 20s, according to new research reported at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference® (AAIC®) 2020. These risk factors, many of which are disproportionately apparent in African Americans, include heart health factors — such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes — and social factors like education quality. According to the Alzheimer’s Association Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures...

On August 18, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will unveil the latest edition of Healthy People! Healthy People 2030 is a set of science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving health and well-being in the United States. During the webcast, we’ll highlight the new Healthy People 2030 goals and objectives and provide an overview of the development process. We’ll also feature guest speakers from HHS who will discuss Healthy People 2030 data, social determinants...