Violence Prevention and Unintentional Injury
Rewire reports on the years-long backlog for victims of domestic violence who apply for U visas, a special visa available to victims of certain crimes including domestic violence that enables victims to gain legal status. Currently, 10,000 U visas become available each year, but there are at least 135,641 immigrant victims of violence with pending cases who are vulnerable to deportation and cannot work legally in the US, as well as trapping many victims of domestic violence in abusive relationships.
On Monday, a nearly all-white jury in the Walter Scott case was unable to come to a unanimous decision, leading the judge to declare a mistrial, thereby freeing former police officer, Michael Slager, who was charged with murder after video evidence emerged showing him shooting Walter Scott five times in the back while Scott was running away. The video also showed Slager placing a taser next to Scott’s body after he was killed. In 2016, 192 black men have been killed by police, yet there have been very few convictions. Since 2005, there have been thousands of police shootings yet only 78 officers have been charged with murder or manslaughter. Unarmed black Americans are five times more likely to be killed by a police officer than white Americans.
There have been 200 shootings of police this year. And police in states without background checks on all handgun sales were twice as likely to be shot, according to new data.
A new study shows that the number of school shootings in the US has leaped in recent years from 35 in 2013 to 64 in 2015. An analysis conducted by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine found that five states -- Georgia, Florida, Texas, North Carolina and Tennessee -- had more than 10 school shooting incidents over the past few years. Researchers also found that the number of shootings was lower in states that had mandatory background checks for gun purchases, higher spending on mental health, and higher spending on K-12 education. (via BMSG)
The Women's Media Center used International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December 3) and 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-Based Violence (November 25-December 10) to advocate for increased awareness and prevention of violence and abuse against disabled women and girls. The DisAbled Women's Network of Canada is conducting a study of policy, legislation and services for disabled women and deaf women in Canada who have experienced sexual assault and violence: "Women who have experienced violence and abuse include women from every background; therefore, policies need to address the best ways to support all these women, and they need to offer support to the most vulnerable groups," writes Jewelles Smith. (via BMSG)
Health Equity
The National Center for Transgender Equality reported the results of the largest-ever survey of trans people in the US. The Center concluded that their findings “reveal disturbing patterns of mistreatment and discrimination and startling disparities between transgender people in the survey and the U.S. population when it comes to the most basic elements of life, such as finding a job, having a place to live, accessing medical care, and enjoying the support of family and community. Survey respondents also experienced harassment and violence at alarmingly high rates.”
Ohio’s Republican-dominated House and Senate passed a ban on abortions six weeks after conception – before many women know they’re pregnant. If signed into law by Governor Kasich, physicians who perform abortions could face prison time.
Reuters reports on a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health that shows the richest Americans live seven to 10 years longer than the poorest (10 years longer for US men and seven years longer for women).
A study, authored by David Broockman at Stanford University and Joshua Kalla at the University of California-Berkeley, looked at how simple conversations – in contrast to just calling someone a bigot -- can help combat anti-transgender and racist attitudes. But researchers cautioned that the process of reducing people’s racism and bigotry will take time and, crucially, empathy.
After months of activism, enduring harsh weather and violence from security officers, on Monday the Standing Rock water protectors and other activists celebrated the Army Corps of Engineers denial of a permit for constructing the Dakota Access Pipeline over the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Mother Jones details the stories, victories and unity of the Standing Rock protesters. The movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline was not just about stopping the pipeline, but sparked a new call for Native American rights that, for centuries, have been ignored. However, the Trump administration made clear it would attempt to overturn/override the decision, and the pipeline company has pledged to build it anyway.
This New York Times investigative piece shows that since Election Day, in New York City alone, 43 hate crimes have been reported to the New York City Police Department. Afaf Nasher, executive director of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic relations, urges officials to link the surge in reported hate crimes directly to President-elect Trump: "Mr. Trump's rhetoric normalized hate, racism and xenophobia," she said. "These attacks are the unavoidable byproduct."
A new report shows that beauty products marketed to black women contain more hazardous chemicals that could cause hormone disruption, allergies, reproductive damage and cancer. The study co-author notes, "As a black woman myself, I was disheartened that black women have fewer options for healthier products when they are choosing from products specifically targeted to them."
A New York Times investigation of 60,000 disciplinary cases from state prisons and interviews with inmates found that racial disparities are embedded in the New York State prison system. Blacks and Latinos were disciplined at higher rates than whites and were also sent to solitary confinement more frequently and for longer durations. Coverage of the investigation notes that excess prison discipline has a ripple effect -- it prevents access to jobs, educational and therapeutic programs, and diminishes the inmate's chances of being paroled. (via BMSG)
Community environments
CityLab reports on the nomination of Dr. Ben Carson to be secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and his lack of housing policy experience, is serving to underscore the growing chorus of housing experts that – while opposing Carson’s nomination -- agree that a medical professional is a good pick for this cabinet position because of the link between health and housing. Earthjustice staff attorney Eve Gartner notes, “Housing is not just about construction and bricks and mortar, but also about whether there is mold, or are their other substances in the housing that are causing or contributing to things like elevated asthma rates in kids.”
Carson – who has long expressed opposition to fully funding social safety net programs -- is just one of many incoming Trump administration nominees who have “key philosophical differences with the missions of the agencies they have been tapped to run.” Other nominees expected to work against the stated missions of their departments include Scott Pruitt, nominated to head the Environmental Protection Agency, who advocates warn will be “the most hostile E.P.A. administrator toward clean air and safe drinking water in history,” and Betsy DeVos – a proponent of private school vouchers that starve public school funding -- to head the Department of Education. The Washington Monthly concludes that “What they all have in common is a vision to undermine the very premise of a federal role on issues such as climate change, education, housing discrimination, health care, civil rights, labor and veterans care. While much of what they want to accomplish will require Congressional action, their disdain for the work they are tasked to oversee will have tremendous consequences for all of us.”
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s office released a report on e-cigarette usage by youth and young adults this week, citing the products’ addictive potential (which Murthy described as having “all the addictive potential of traditional tobacco products”), harmful ingredients (including ultrafine particles, heavy metals, and chemicals linked to serious lung diseases), and rising usage by youth (high schoolers use e-cigarettes at a higher rate than adults).
This week, New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg committed $360 million to support tobacco control policies worldwide.
California
California is one of 12 states to issue drivers licenses to undocumented drivers, issuing approximately 800,000 such licenses since 2015. As Mother Jones reports, “these initiatives have been widely hailed as a reasonable way to try to improve public safety, by helping make sure that everyone behind the wheel was a competent driver. But now, with the incoming Trump administration seemingly committed to deporting undocumented individuals, there is worry among immigration advocates that the identifying data collected as part of these programs—names, addresses, copies of foreign passports—could be used by federal authorities looking to send people back to their home countries.”
This past weekend, a massive fire devastated a warehouse, used as a live-work space by artists, in Oakland this past weekend, killing 36 people. The people who lost their lives were predominately young people in their 20s and 30s, and included many people of color and LGBTQ young adults who had gravitated toward the warehouse as a safe space to socialize and create art. The people who died in the fire included students, a teacher, community organizers, a poet, musicians and DJs, visual artists, and a documentary film-maker. The city of Oakland is facing scrutiny for failing to respond adequately to warnings raised about the building, one of many converted warehouses used as live-work spaces.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the city is considering using revenue from the newly adopted soda tax – expected to generate $7.5 million in 2017 and $15 million in 2018 – to pay for programs serving SF’s homeless population.
After not carrying out any executions in a decade, the state of California is preparing a new protocol for speeding up the execution process after California voters rejected a ballot measure to repeal the death penalty and narrowly passed one to speed up the appeals process.
Health Systems Transformation
In ACA news, NPR reports on a new poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation that found only 26 percent of Americans support full repeal of Obamacare. While most voters who backed Trump still favor repealing the ACA, a majority of them support allowing young adults to stay on their parents' health plans until age 26, eliminating out-of-pocket costs for preventive services, and exchanges where small business and individuals can shop for coverage. Meanwhile, a new Urban Institute study shows that repealing the ACA without a replacement plan would be disastrous, including causing nearly 30 million people to lose their insurance, more than doubling the number of children uninsured (four million), and leading to as many as 36,000 additional deaths a year. In addition, millions of Americans, including many struggling with opioid addiction, would risk losing access to mental health treatment. In response, the insurance industry has come out with its demands if the ACA is repealed, and the nation’s hospital industry warned that repeal could cost hospitals $165 billion by the middle of the next decade and trigger “an unprecedented public health crisis.” Finally, Rand corps’ VP authored a piece in US News and World Report about the need to refocus our attention on the social determinants of health and promoting healthy behaviors, noting, “It is important to recognize that even if the United States had a high-performing health care system, it is unlikely that it would improve aggregate health outcomes appreciably. This is because health care may account for as little as 10 percent of Americans' overall health, with the balance due to social and environmental factors, individual behaviors and genetics.”
Kaiser Health News takes a closer look at the winners and losers of the multi-faceted 21st Century Cures Bill. Winners include: pharmaceutical and medical device companies; medical schools, hospitals and physicians; mental health and substance abuse advocates; and health information technology and software companies. Losers include public health and prevention measures, as the bill cuts $3.5 billion — about 30 percent — from the Prevention and Public Health Fund. Another loser is consumer and patient safety groups, because Cures opens the door for unsafe drug and device approvals and doesn’t address rising drug costs. The bill overwhelmingly passed the senate and is expected to be signed into law soon. The five senators who voted against Cures included three liberals — Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Jeff Merkley — who bashed the bill as a corporate giveaway without even guaranteeing that the legislation's research resources will be delivered as promised. Democrat Ron Wyden said in a statement that he was "infuriated and heartbroken" that bipartisan legislation to reform the foster care system and restrict federal funding for group home placements was stripped out. In this article published on the websites of two radio stations, Prevention Institute’s opposition to cuts to the Prevention Fund is cited, and we are quoted (article also includes one of our tweets).
Progress on addressing public health issues in the US has been mixed in recent years, according to a CDC report released this week. The report focuses on progress made under CDC's "Winnable Battles" campaign, which set improvement goals for 2015 on several public health issues, including automobile-related injuries, health care-associated infections, HIV/AIDS, smoking, and more.
Mother Jones covers a new report by the Government Accountability Office that raises some serious doubts as to whether the VA is fully prepared to handle the influx of female patients. The article notes, “Now that women can serve in combat roles in the US military, the number of female veterans is expected to climb in the coming years—and most of them will turn to the Department of Veterans Affairs for health care.”
NPR covers how post-incarceration transition clinics are seeking to bridge former prisoners’ return to their communities while reducing their visits to emergency rooms.
The Los Angeles Times covers a new government report that tracks the nation’s overall healthcare tab that shows that increased health spending is being driven by greater access to care since passage of the ACA, rather than price increases for care.
A new study in Health Affairs shows how accountable care organizations are seeking to improve population health by addressing nonmedical needs of patients, such as housing, transportation, and food.