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Over the past several years, states and jurisdictions have continued to implement important policies to reduce tobacco and nicotine use, including increasing tobacco prices, expanding areas deemed “smoke-free,” limiting the sale of ...

The youth mental health crisis has created the need for a comprehensive workforce response, which requires educators and school administrative staff, school-based mental health professionals, and communities to work collaboratively to ...

Infographic depicting findings on a survey around opioid use among pregnant people.

Recap the state legislative sessions in 2025 thus far, spanning maternal health, infectious disease, and other important public health issues.

While communities transition from emergency response to long-term monitoring and recovery, the federal government and states are taking legislative action to improve emergency preparedness capabilities.

State Legislatures Moving to Increase Rural Health Care Access How States Are Incentivizing Health Care Providers to Practice in Rural Areas Lana McKinney Hospital closures and fewer care options in rural areas cause worse health outcomes ...

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced new challenges for screening children’s blood lead levels, as screening rates across the country dropped during stay-at-home orders. A substantive federal policy change and provisions in the Infrastructure ...

This report contains lessons learned and examples of messaging strategies that were successful during cyanobacterial bloom responses, they were collected from 17 state health agency staff members across 12 states.

In 2017, nearly 64,000 children under six had elevated blood lead levels as defined by the CDC. There is no safe blood lead level in children, and even low levels of lead have been shown to affect IQ, ability to pay attention, and academic ...

Effective Public Health Approaches to Reducing Congenital Syphilis astho, association of state and territorial health officials, provider bias, syphilis screening requirements, medicaid family planning programs, medicaid eligibility, ...

State Strategies for Advancing Viral Hepatitis Elimination astho, association of state and territorial health officials, public health officials, state health officials, territorial health officials, state health department, population ...

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government enacted the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, temporarily expanding the use of telehealth technologies by removing various requirements and ...

States Support Postpartum Health with Medicaid Expansions astho, association of state and territorial health officials, 2023 state legislative session, medicaid expansions, postpartum health, the consolidated appropriations act, national ...

Recent state laws and governor emergency orders prohibiting universal school mask protocols are complicating the implementation of CDC’s evidence-based guidance for COVID-19 mitigation measures for in-person school. Ten states have enacted ...

This week might have marked the beginning of summer, but many policymakers and health officials have their eye on the upcoming school year and what that might mean in terms of getting students vaccinated against COVID-19. According to a ...

To learn more about Iowa’s recent efforts to fight against HIV, ASTHO spoke with Sarah Reisetter, chief of compliance and a deputy director at Iowa HHS, and Randy Mayer, chief of the Iowa HHS Bureau of HIV, STI, and Hepatitis.

Poor oral health is considered a health disparity for low-income children and adults; it has significant impacts on the overall health and well-being especially for those who are vulnerable. However, states can utilize a variety of ...

This post highlights the successes and challenges of "children's cabinets" in Minnesota and Iowa as well as their efforts to address early childhood health and development.

State and local jurisdictions are developing Ending the HOV Epidemic plans. The EHE initiative has largely focused on four key strategies: Diagnose, Treat, Prevent, and Respond to potential outbreaks. The EHE initiative set a goal to ...

Three ways policymakers are addressing access to care are through telehealth, safety net and emergency services, and adjusted reimbursement rates to Medicaid-enrolled providers.