Are we prioritizing what we need to for a healthy future? | GenPop

As an epidemiologist, Dr. Sandro Galea is always concerned with the aspects of our lives and environments that determine our health as individuals and society.

When he thinks What the Future, he’s worried that we’re not prioritizing the right things and that we don’t understand that the choices we’re making affect the policies we put in place. Those policies have huge impacts for equity of healthcare – even larger impacts than we might think.

GenPop: You asked about life expectancies and how those are different for the richest and poorest Americans. What did you think of the results?

Dr. Sandro Galea: I thought it was clear that most people had the general idea [about the differences] and also clear that only a minority of people actually got the specifics and understood how big the problem is. What struck me is that the narrative about health inequality is out there, yet about a quarter of the people thought there was no difference at all [in life expectancies of the rich and poor]. But I’m an optimist. I think the fact that most people know the difference is good.

On Keeping the Faith in 2018 | Dean's Note

Before beginning today’s note, a word about the SPH This Week publishing schedule. As we have in years past, we will pause SPH This Week for the next four weeks, recommencing on August 26. We do this to acknowledge the heart of summer, a time to relax and reflect before the bustle of fall.

In 2018, of course, on many days it is not so easy to relax. Amid the swirling outrages of the last two years, the sheer number of health threats that emerge from the actions of the Trump administration have been truly concerning. From its recent actions against breastfeeding, to its rollback of environmental standards, to its determination to place an opponent of reproductive freedom—and progressive change more broadly—on the US Supreme Court, to its assault on the well-being of migrant families, the Trump administration has allowed little peace to those who care about creating a healthier world.

The Public's Health: The Health of the Poorest 50 Percent | Public Health Post

No relationship is more clearly established in population health science than the one between income and health. Those among us who are fortunate enough to have higher income live longer, healthier lives. By way of example, those born in 1960 who are in the lowest income quintile, can expect to live till age 76; those in the highest income quintile can expect to live till age 89. Money buys access to the resources that create a healthier life, from safe neighborhoods to walk in, to clean air to breathe, to time off to care for sick children, to nutritious food to eat. We write about this today, not because it is news, but because, quite simply, the United States is on the brink of creating a class of permanent health have-nots, shaped by entrenched class divides and ever increasing income disparity.

Guns, Obesity, and Opioids: A Population Health Science Perspective on 3 Contemporary Epidemics | Milbank Quarterly

The firearm, obesity, and opioid epidemics are among the most important public health crises of our time. Each epidemic has a complex etiology that challenges efforts at mitigation. From this, a central question arises for researchers, clinicians, and policymakers: How can we identify what matters most within a broad range of causal factors in these epidemics, and can we draw cross-epidemic inferences that will help inform our thinking?

The principles of population health science can shed light on the fundamental forces that drive each epidemic. Because population health science is a relatively new field, we do not yet have substantial agreement on a set of axioms to guide our work.1 Two years ago, building on the work of Geoffrey Rose,2 a colleague and I proposed 9 principles to guide the science of population health.3 These principles, presented in the box, offer a framework that can inform research on the drivers of population health. I focus here on 2 of these principles to illustrate how they can apply to—and help set priorities for—these 3 wide-ranging epidemics.

POV: Trump Administration’s Position on Breastfeeding Is “Deeply Unsettling” | BU Today

Last week, the New York Times reported that the United States tried to block a World Health Assembly resolution encouraging governments to promote breastfeeding among their citizens. The United States also reportedly tried to remove from the resolution language recommending that countries curb the promotion of food products that may undermine the health of young children, threatening the resolution’s would-be sponsor, Ecuador, with economic punishment if the changes were not approved. While the measure was ultimately passed after Russia stepped in to introduce it, the fact that the episode occurred at all is deeply unsettling.

Creating Health is Like Winning at Soccer | Thrive Global

This piece originally appeared as The Public's Health. 

As the 2018 World Cup moves toward its finale, it's clear that soccer is the global sport, with an estimated 500 million people playing regularly, or about 5% of the world’s population. The game is simple: eleven players on one side try to get the ball into the net on the other side. Of the eleven players, only the goalie can use her hands to keep the ball from getting into the net.

Trauma and Its Aftermath | Dean's Note

At a time when much of the news is dismaying, last week brought a development that was, for a change, truly joyous. The rescue of a Thai soccer team, along with their coach, from the cave where they had been trapped for 18 days was a welcome conclusion to an at-times harrowing tale. While the death of one of the team’s rescuers—former Thai Navy SEAL Saman Kunan—prevents this ending from being an unequivocally happy one, the fact that the team is now out of immediate physical danger is something we can all celebrate.

The Public's Health: Creating Health is Like Winning at Soccer | Public Health Post

As the 2018 World Cup moves toward its finale, it's clear that soccer is the global sport, with an estimated 500 million people playing regularly, or about 5% of the world’s population. The game is simple: eleven players on one side try to get the ball into the net on the other side. Of the eleven players, only the goalie can use her hands to keep the ball from getting into the net.

Those who are not used to soccer may, reasonably enough, see the goalie as the key to winning. After all the goalie is the last defense, standing between the ball and the net, and in theory a spectacular goalie can stop every shot that comes her way.

This is the personal website of Sandro Galea. All photos are taken by Sandro Galea.