lborkowski

Brian Castrucci, who’s worked in city and state health departments and is now Chief Program and Strategy Director at the de Beaumont Foundation, likes to ask people two questions: Do you know who your primary care provider is? And, Do you know who’s head of your local public health department? The…

by Jonathan Heller In his farewell address, President Dwight D. Eisenhower famously warned Americans about the growing power of the military-industrial complex. More than 50 years later, Nicholas Freudenberg, Distinguished Professor of Public Health at City University of New York, has issued a…

One of the Millennium Development Goals -- a set of goals to improve global well-being by 2015 -- is to reduce by two-thirds the mortality rate of children under age five. The good news for MDG progress is that the under-five mortality rate has been cut nearly in half, from 90 deaths per 1,000 live…

February 7th marked two grim anniversaries of explosions that demonstrate the toll of unsafe workplaces. On February 7, 2008, an explosion and fire at the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Georgia, killed 14 workers and injured 28 others. On February 7, 2010, an explosion at the Kleen…

By Anthony Robbins, MD, MPA Every day we see and hear another grim and gruesome story from Bangui, but perhaps that is because we are working in Paris this winter, and there are French soldiers who been into the old colonial domain. Yesterday The New York Times captured the horror on its Editorial…

by Kim Gilhuly The quality of public housing is a key determinant of health among low-income populations. Substandard housing – where mold, pest infestations, fire hazards, or other health risks are present – is associated with a wide range of health problems, including respiratory infections,…

After having delivered prime-time telecasts from the Olympic Games since 1988, NBC’s Bob Costas had to step aside due to a pink eye infection. Wonkblog’s Sarah Kliff opined that Bob Costas did the right thing, noting, “People turning up to work sick is actually a vexing problem for employers that…

A few of the recent pieces I've liked: Karen Bouffard in The Detroit News: Infant mortality rate in Detroit rivals areas of Third World (via Reporting on Health, which has links to other stories in this series) Stephanie McCrummen in the Washington Post: Life after Jan. 1: Kentucky clinic offers…

Shortly before the 48th Super Bowl, Hall of Famer and former Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Rayfield Wright acknowledged publicly for the first time that he suffers from dementia. "If something's wrong with you, you try to hide it," he told the New York Times' Juliet Macur, explaining why he had…

In last night's State of the Union speech, President Obama addressed several ways to "make sure our economy honors the dignity of work, and hard work pays off for every single American." Here's what he said about wage increases: To every mayor, governor, state legislator in America, I say, you don'…

I wrote last week about the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which the Affordable Care Act (ACA) created to invest in improving overall population health – with the hope that improved health will help slow the growth of healthcare costs. Another provision of the ACA that aims to reduce future…

Earlier this month, county officials in Hammond, Indiana declared a state of emergency due to extreme weather -- but, reports Salon's Josh Eidelson, Linc Logistics employees doing warehouse work for Walmart were told to stay on the job, despite working in temperatures that organizers say reached…

Both houses of Congress have now passed, and President Obama has signed, the omnibus spending bill, and it’s a welcome relief from budget battles through the end of this fiscal year (September 30, 2014). I was especially curious to see what the bill contained for the Prevention and Public Health…

A few of the recent pieces I've liked: Ken Ward Jr. in the Charleston (WV) Gazette: Why wasn't there a plan? Key players knew of potential for Elk River spill and State ignored plan for tougher chemical oversight (also check out opinions on the West Virginia chemical release from Deborah Blum at…

In case you missed it before the holidays, ProPublica's excellent "Temporary Work, Lasting Harm" piece is well worth a read. (Univision also produced and aired a version of the story.) Michael Grabell, Olga Pierce, and Jeff Larson tell the story of 21-year-old Day Davis, a temporary worker killed…

By Anthony Robbins, MD, MPA I am always just a little skeptical about public health education.  Do students learn to apply the principles they learn?  Recently, I was able to answer in the affirmative, at least about a single occurrence. When I walked into the restroom of a Cambridge restaurant,…

Now that it’s 2014, millions more people in the US have health insurance coverage (either Medicaid or private insurance), thanks to the Affordable Care Act. In the weeks ahead, many of the newly insured will be visiting healthcare providers to address ongoing health concerns. The Washington Post’s…

While we're on vacation, we're re-posting content from last year. This post was originally published on April 30, 2013. By Celeste Monforton I take mine black, but millions of U.S. coffee drinkers love their java beans flavored to taste like hazelnut, buttered toffee, french toast and amaretto.  …

While we’re on vacation, we’re re-posting content from last year. This post was originally published on January 30, 2013. Since then, the Senate has passed an immigration-reform bill, but the House has not voted on it. By Liz Borkowski In Wonkblog yesterday, Sarah Kliff highlighted an important…

While we’re on vacation, we’re re-posting content from earlier in the year. This post was originally published on June 26, 2013. By Elizabeth Grossman In 1989, Massachusetts enacted a remarkable and landmark law known as the Toxics Use Reduction Act (TURA). Supported by both environmentalists and…

While we’re on vacation, we’re re-posting content from earlier in the year. This post was originally published on March 12, 2013. By Liz Borkowski On March 12, 2003, the World Health Organization issued a global health alert for  an atypical pneumonia that was soon dubbed SARS,  severe acute…

While we’re on vacation, we’re re-posting content from earlier in the year. This post was originally published on April 16, 2013. By Celeste Monforton An analysis by Mine Safety and Health News (MSHN) finds that nearly $70 million in delinquent penalties are owed to the U.S. Treasury by mining…

While we’re on vacation, we’re re-posting content from earlier in the year. This post was originally published on March 8, 2013. by Kim Krisberg In a little less than a month, public health workers and their community partners in Macomb County, Mich., will set up at the local Babies"R"Us store to…

While we’re on vacation, we’re re-posting content from earlier in the year. This post was originally published on April 24, 2013. By Liz Borkowski For this Workers' Memorial Week, the National Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) has released "Preventable Deaths: The Tragedy…

While we’re on vacation, we’re re-posting content from earlier in the year. This post was originally published on July 23, 2013. By Celeste Monforton My mailbox today contained an example that Obamacare is working for healthcare consumers.   In an envelope from my health insurance provider was a …

On December 5, fast-food workers mounted one-day strikes in dozens of cities (between 100 and 130 cities, depending which tally you consult) to demand higher wages and the right to unionize without reprisal. The strikes follow walkouts that started in New York City in November 2012, and a series of…

Today, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) introduced the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Act, or FAMILY Act, federal legislation to create a "social insurance" system for paid medical and family leave. A new office within the Social Security Administration…

A few of the recent pieces I've liked: Andrea Elliott in the New York Times: Invisible Child: Dasani's Homeless Life Matthieu Aikins in Wired: The Surge: "In 1988 there were 350,000 cases of polio worldwide. Last year there were 223. But getting all the way to zero will mean spending billions of…

A coalition of public-health organizations, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, has released a report criticizing most U.S. states for under-investing in smoking prevention and cessation. Broken Promises to Our Children: The 1998 State Tobacco…

In May 2010, an explosion at the Black Mag gunpowder-substitute plant in Colebrook, New Hampshire killed employees Jesse Kennett and Don Kendall. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigated and issued 54 citations with penalties totaling $1.2 million. David Michaels,…