American Journal Of Public Health Podcast

Regional Editor of AJPH, Professor Stella Yu, reviews some articles recently published in the June, July, and August issues of AJPH, including: financial toll of untreated perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, Covid-19 in Asia, and impact of Covid-19 and Asian populations in the US. The guest presentation features a preview of the article, entitled, “Estimation of the outbreak severity and evaluation of epidemic prevention ability of COVID-19 by province in China”, presented by Yilei Ma, a doctoral candidate at Huazhong Technical University.

Why is there a need to reinvent public health and what should be the essential traits of the reinvented public health system? These are the questions I discuss in this podcast with authors of the November issue of AJPH. Professor Nancy Krieger (Harvard U) wrote that we had enough with the current public health. Professor Ross Brownson (Washington U. StLouis) with three colleagues described the path forward for public health priorities now and five years ahead. And, Professor Larry Gostin (Georgetown U.)warns that global governance in the public health world is being reinvented at a time when the US is severing its ties to World Health Organization and the United Nations.

In this podcast, we attempt to answer three questions: How effective has the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic been? Were the major but localized crises of Katrina and Flint harbingers of the generalized Covid-19 crisis? What did we learn from them to prepare for the Covid-19 pandemic and what did we miss? Third, did CDC play the role the public, the states, and scientists were expecting from it? My guests are Joe Kanter (Louisiana Department of Health), Bob Kim-Farley (UCLA and AJPH), and Wendy Parmet (Northeastern and AJPH)

This month issue and podcast provide a public health perspective on rural America. Is rural America sinking or is it America’s public health’s life buoy? The ongoing pandemic invites us to reconsider the role of rural regions in designing a new, post-Covid19 public health. The overall message emanating from these contributions is paradoxically optimistic. My four guests are: Shauntice Allen (Alabama SPH), Wendy Braund (Pennsylvania DOH), Michael Meit (East Tennessee SU), and Eduardo Sanchez (Texas, and AHA).

Why is police brutality a public health problem? Why is there a need for more evidence to control a phenomenon that is blatantly harmful at a mass scale? What should be the role of PH departments if funds are diverted from the police to social services? And is the current uprising some form of revolution? My four guests are Sirry Alang (Lehigh University), Mary Bassett (former Commissioner of Health for New York City), Lisa Bowleg, (George Washington University and AJPH), Leana Wen (former Baltimore's Health Commissioner).

Regional Editor of AJPH, Professor Stella Yu, reviews some articles recently published in the March, April and May issues of AJPH, including: importance of the January supplement on carceral health, health disparities uncovered by Asian subgroup analysis, and actions to improve Asian American health. The guest presentation features the editorial on ‘Seven Reasons to Care About Racism and COVID-19 and Seven Things to Do to Stop It’, written by Dr. Gilbert Gee, a renowned expert on racial discrimination and disease.

Submissions to AJPH related to the on-going pandemic reveal the disproportionate risks undergone by essential workers, minorities, incarcerated persons, immigrants, persons with disabilities, homeless persons, and other populations made vulnerable by their social and economic position and/or simply because they are discriminated against. So, are we really together in this pandemic? I explore this claim under four different angles: social, statistical, historical, and occupational. My guests are Chenjerai Kumanyika, Ayman El Mohandes, Amy Hillier, and Josi Kalipeni.

In this podcast, I review with Mitch Zeller (US FDA) what is the rationale underlying the guidance emitted by the FDA about vaping products. I then discuss with Dr. Rebekah Gee, (formerly Louisiana Health Department,) her concerns about the severity of the youth epidemic of vaping and finally with Tom Miller, (Attorney General of Iowa) I review how he can reconcile having been a prominent anti-tobacco actor in the litigation that led to the tobacco industry settlement of 1999 and now, 21 years later, defend the right of the industry which produces electronic cigarettes such as JUUL to sell their products.

Regional Editor of AJPH, Professor Stella Yu, reviews some articles recently published in the January and February issues of AJPH. This podcast focuses on two timely editorials on Covid-19, including an editorial from the ASTHO and one from RAND. The guest presentation features Professor Jennifer Bouey discussing the ‘Strengthening China’s Public Health Response System: From SARS to COVID-19’ editorial.

The May AJPH features occupational health and safety, an issue that is both timely and topical in the middle of the dreadful pandemic that is affecting the planet, but in particular workers, whose mission is to keep the economy and public health functioning. My guests are David Michaels (Former OSHA Assistant-Secretary), Peg Seminario (AFL-CIO) and John Howard (NIOSH DIrector). Their message is: Congress needs to quickly require OSHA to pass an infectious disease standard to protect health care and other workers exposed to Covid-19. A draft of the standard exists.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the launching of National Public Health Week (#NPHW)in 1995. Before NPHW there has been a 35 year-long National Negro Health Week (#NNHW), from 1915 to 1950. What was #NNHW? What did it achieve? Is there any link between #NNHW and #NPHW? I explore these questions with 3 guests: Pr Vanessa Gamble, from George Washington University, Prof Paul Braff, from Temple University and Dr Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of the APHA.

This podcast is about a supplement of the AJPH published in January 2020 and dedicated to the public health dimensions of mass incarceration. The supplement covers many intersections of mass incarceration and public health. In this podcast I focus on a rarely discussed and studied consequence of incarceration: its effect on the relatives of people with a history of incarceration. My interviewees are Lauren Brinkley and David Cloud, Guest Editors of the supplement. Lisa Bowleg, who was AJPH associate editor in charge of the supplement, and Martin Lajous, PI of a Mexican study about the health of the relatives of incarcerated people.

Regional Editor of AJPH, Professor Stella Yu, reviews some articles recently published in the November and December issues of AJPH, including: Shift work and mental health; and the series of articles focusing on the Supplemental Nutrition Program Assistance Program. The guest presentation features Professor Jun Zhang discussing the Preterm Birth in China article.

Is a revolution taking place in Sex Ed? The podcast focuses on one original experience that takes places in Boston which consists of developing a course for teenagers which uses pornography as a lead to prevent teen dating violence, promote healthy relationships and consent, and encourage critical thinking and healthy communication. My interviewees are Emily Rothman, Professor at the Boston University School of Public Health; Jess Alder, Director of Start Strong (Boston Public Health Commission), and, collectively, several peer leaders of the course.

A set of commissioned papers in the January issue discusses the public health initiative entitled "Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America." Here I interview Admiral Brett Giroir, the Assistant Secretary of Health, leader of the Plan, and ask questions regarding stakeholders, hard-to-reach populations, stigma against LGBTQ people and people who inject drugs, the obstacles of low insurance coverage and lack of Medicaid expansion.

This month, we review the history, politics, and public health implications of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, abbreviated as SNAP and formerly known as the food stamp program. With Joanna Simmons, who used food stamps herself, we see how the system works and whether it is useful. Then with Prof. Marion Nestle, we will review the history of SNAP, what he program has achieved, and whether it can be improved.

Regional Editor of AJPH, Professor Stella Yu, reviews some articles recently published in the September Supplement, September and October issues of AJPH, including: community emergency readiness, immigration health policy issues, racial biases and health disparities 400 years since Jamestown, and lessons learned from surveying hard-to-reach populations in national health surveys. The guest presentation features the History Section of AJPH, prepared by Editor Ted Brown.

The November 2019 AJPH podcast is out here: https://am.ajph.link/POD_November2019. The US system of insurance is at a crossroads. Will it continue to grow incrementally or are we on the brink of a profound transformation in which all of the existing financing institutions are canceled and replaced by a single system? This complex machine was built progressively and underwent many social and political battles. The population coverage has improved in quantity and quality over time but remains a combination of sometimes contradictory systems and, importantly, it leaves out 30 million people without health insurance. My guests are Prof Jonathan Oberlander (University of North Carolina) and Dean Sherry Glied (New York University)

Since the first sale of African captives in 1619, North America has had about 250 years when slavery was legal and 150 years during which slavery was abolished. In this podcast I discuss whether this slavery past has left an imprint on public health in the United States. I also trace the mechanisms for which the impacts of this history can still be observed today. My guests are Thomas LaVeist, Dean of the Tulane School of Public Health, and Susan Reverby, historian of public health at Wellesley College, MA.

Regional Editor of AJPH, Professor Stella Yu, reviews some articles recently published in the June Supplement, July and August issues of AJPH, including: population mental health, science and industry, US food and nutrition policy, and interventions to reduce ageism against older adults. The guest presentation is on Protecting Universal Health Coverage in Non–United Nations Member States: Lessons from Taiwan”.