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...

After decades of lower or similar mortality rates in rural areas than in urban areas of the U.S., a rural mortality penalty emerged in the 1990s and has grown since the mid-2000s. Although the rural–urban mortality gap has widened across all major racial/ethnic groups over the past 30 years, it has widened the most among working-age non-Hispanic (NH) whites. A research brief in the Population Research and Policy Review summarizes the results of a study that examined rural-urban differences...

TL;DR: The social determinants of health are gaining the attention on the hill, there is bipartisan support, and there is strong hope that the 117th Congress and the Biden-Harris administration will make progress – particularly regarding health equity. The main driving factor…money.

Thanks for summarizing the information shared in the briefing!

This is encouraging, thank you for sharing. I work in transportation education at Cornell Cooperative Extension in Tompkins County, New York. Sometimes people know what they need to do to improve their health, but they have no reasonable way to get to their doctor's appointments, or to physical therapy, or even to the pharmacy.

I taught a course titled Integrating Public Health and Clinical Systems. There is of course no standard text book for such a topic, but I found a great compendium of essays from the deBeaumont Foundation called the Practical Playbook for Integrating Public Health and Primary Care. The social determinants of health are at the heart of connecting the two sectors. The second edition of this book talks about developing multisector partnerships. https://www.debeaumont.org/pro.../practical-playbook/

Applications are currently being accepted for a health promotion specialist who will provide technical assistance and support to an Extension-wide project to promote the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccines. The successful candidate may be a current LGU employee who's services will be supported by a full-time buy-out of their professional time or service contract beginning April 1, 2021. See the position announcement immediately below for additional information. Position Announcement: Vaccinate...

Applications are currently being accepted for a Health Promotion Specialist for the Cooperative Extension Immunization Education Project who will provide technical assistance and support to an Extension-wide project to promote the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccines. The successful candidate may be a current LGU employee who's services will be supported by a full-time buy-out of their professional time or service contract beginning April 1, 2021. See the position announcement immediately below...

I am happy to share the Request for Applications (RFA) for seven additional land grant institutions to become a part of the Well Connected Communities Initiative. National 4-H Council through the generous support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation seeks to showcase land grant universities that are modeling how Cooperative Extension is already working in new ways to implement the five high-level recommendations included in Cooperative Extension’s National Framework for Health Equity and...

Has your land grant institution implemented an innovation that has accelerated Cooperative Extension’s work to advance health and well being? If so, we want to help you tell that story of innovation and the difference it is making in your state. The Well Connected Communities Initiative, administered through National 4-H Council with the generous support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will provide seven land grant universities with $25,000 each to perform a case study of a successful...

A recent research brief by Nader Mehri and Jennifer Karas Montez at Syracuse University reveals that the chances of dying young differ dramatically across U.S. states. Individuals living in Minnesota, California, New York, and Massachusetts have the lowest rates of death by age 65, whereas those living in Southern states, including West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma have the highest rates of premature death. If current conditions...