Calling out the horrors of mass incarceration | The Healthiest Goldfish

Addressing a uniquely American problem.

The US incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. There are currently two million people in prisons and jails in this country. Yet mass incarceration, for all the lives it touches, does not affect all lives equally. Black men are six times likelier than white men to be incarcerated. Latino men are 2.5 times likelier to be incarcerated than white men. These numbers reflect a system that arguably does not simply punish those who have committed crimes in proportion to their offenses. Rather, it reflects a deeply biased system that has created a crisis in this country.

Read the full piece here.

Not in the name of public health | The Healthiest Goldfish

When the goals of public health are used to justify authoritarian overreach, we have a responsibility as a field to say “No.”

One frequently overheard phrase in our field is “in the name of public health” or some equivalent like “in the interest of public health.” This phrase is often applied to the interventions we promote with an eye towards shaping better health for all. Through the years, we have done much in the name of public health. We have promoted handwashing at a time when the practice was still novel and distrusted. We have argued for better sanitation systems and city design to slow the spread of disease in urban spaces. And we have urged greater focus on engaging with the socioeconomic drivers of health as a means of creating a healthier society and preventing disease from taking hold. The range of this work illustrates the breadth of the initiatives we can pursue in the name of public health.

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Advancing Health Equity: Learning from Other Countries | The Commonwealth Fund

Area of focus: Advancing Health Equity

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated longstanding racial disparities in health in the United States and highlighted the need to address inequities across a range of health system functions. All countries face their own unique inequities in health status or in the distribution of health care resources among different population groups. We looked at how eight high-income countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom) have sought to change the mindsets of health care leaders and professionals, measure and dismantle racism in care delivery, and promote equitable access to care. The eight countries finance health care very differently than the U.S. and are affected by racism and income inequality in varying ways. Nevertheless, they offer lessons and practical strategies for supporting historically marginalized groups and reducing health inequalities.

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The Values That Bind Us | Dean's Note

On the roots of our guiding principles.

The longer I do what I do, the more it seems to me that values are core to sustaining a vibrant, engaged public health community. Public health brings together a diverse coalition of people with different backgrounds, ideas, and perspectives. Values are a unifying thread, helping keep us connected to each other and to our broader mission. At SPH, we often talk about our values, most notably in our values statement:

“We are committed to igniting and sustaining positive change that leads to health and well-being around the world. We strive for a respectful, collaborative, diverse, and inclusive community within our School of Public Health. We aim to promote justice, human rights, and equity within and across our local and global communities.”

This statement was crafted some years ago with input from the whole school community and is informed by the broader values of public health.

Read more here.

High Hopes for a New Academic Year | Dean's Note

A note of welcome, and a challenge, for our school community.

I hope that all members of our community have had a restful, restorative summer. The start of a new academic year is a time of renewal, a chance to reconnect with friends and colleagues, to welcome new students, and to anticipate all we will do in the coming semester. To the new members of our community: welcome. We are so happy that you are joining us at BUSPH. It will be a joy indeed to get to know you during your time here.

We now look ahead, with excitement, to the coming year. It is a time for seizing opportunities, for making new connections, and for redoubling our commitment to the work of building a healthier world.  

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Monkeypox: Old Disease, New Fears | Dean's Note

On stopping the spread of a disease without encouraging the spread of stigma.

In 1958, a pox-like disease was observed in colonies of monkeys that were being maintained for research purposes. In 1970, the first human case of the disease, which had been named “monkeypox,” was recorded. Since then, it has been recognized as a disease that is similar to smallpox but less severe and rarely fatal, at least for the strain of virus responsible for the current outbreak in non-endemic countries. Its symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, and a rash. It spreads through close, skin-to-skin contact, through touching objects or surfaces touched by someone with the disease, or by touching respiratory secretions of someone with monkeypox. The presence of monkeypox DNA in seminal fluid suggests that sexual transmission may also occur. The multiple routes of transmission mean that anyone can get monkeypox. At this moment, in the current outbreak, it is a particular risk for men who have sex with men, with 98 percent of current cases occurring among this group. Monkeypox had been primarily reported among populations in central and western Africa until the current outbreak, which has seen the virus spread globally. More on monkeypox can be found in this helpful explainer from The New York Times.

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Can we love a country even when it falls short? | The Healthiest Goldfish

Reflections on the Fourth of July at a time of challenge for America.

This is a difficult time in America. From mass shootings, to the fall of Roe v. Wade, to the persistent denial of the need to do something about clear injustices like racism and homophobia, our country’s faults are on full display. These faults make it easy to feel like America is disappointing, failing. This creates challenges for our observance of Independence Day, which is supposed to be a celebration of this country. How, we may ask, can we celebrate something that has fallen so short? Is the Fourth of July just empty jingoism? How can we embrace fireworks and parties with so much going wrong with the object of these festivities? This essay is an attempt to organize my thoughts about these difficult questions. It is a personal reflection on all that is wrong with the country in the present moment, and an effort to balance these wrongs with what has been, and may still be, right with it. I realize that even suggesting America may have positive qualities may strike some as inappropriate in the current context. Yet creating a better world means keeping sight of the good wherever it is to be found, towards the goal of maximizing its influence. We cannot do this if we do not make an effort to look for it. This is my attempt to do so.

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Reckoning with the End of Roe | Dean's Note

It is now up to us to engage and to redouble our efforts towards supporting the laws and policies that create a healthier world.

Today, the Supreme Court issued its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and end constitutionally protected abortion access in the US. This reflects a major shift on this issue, as choices about the legality and accessibility of abortion now fall to the states. The implications of this change are catastrophic. For the first time in decades, abortion access will not be protected in a majority of states.

In May, when a draft of the Court’s opinion leaked, I wrote about the need to center reproductive health and abortion access in the public health agenda. In early June, we came together as a school community to discuss abortion access and the future of reproductive health in the US, in the context of the decision we knew was likely coming. We now face the reality of a changed world. It is important to restate that abortion care is health care, and lack of federally protected abortion access has deep, intolerable, and unjust ramifications for health. The task of public health is to address this new reality in pursuit of our broader mission to improve the health of populations with special care for the marginalized and vulnerable.

Read the full piece here.