APHA Day 1: Environment Matters for Health

Mayor Nutter described Philadelphia, "the city of brotherly love and sisterly affection," as a city of public health firsts during today's Opening Address at APHA. He and several other speakers talked about the many public health "firsts" that Philadelphia can pride itself with: the first medical school, the first water and sanitation bureau, the first city to require water flouridation.... 

APHA 2009 Bound!

 
Veritas Health will be tweeting and blogging from the 137th American Public Health Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA -- right near her hometown! The conference begins Saturday, November 7th and will last until Wednesday, November 11th.

The theme of this year's conference is Water and Public Health. Dr. Mirta Roses, Director of the Pan American Health Organization will be speaking at the opening session, and the beloved Dr. Howard Koh will be closing the meeting on Wednesday.

If you will be in attendance, come see my presentation on Human Trafficking and Sex Work in Nicaragua and Thailand on Monday, November 9th from 12:30-2:00pm in a session titled "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of the Sex Worker Industry" Session 3261.1.

Public Health Practioners for Reform, a group started by students at the Harvard School of Public Health, will be marching to CIGNA headquarters on Monday, November 9th at 4pm in support for a public option in health care reform (and demanding that health insurance companies stop lobbying against a public option). If you'd like to join them, you can find more information about the march/rally here.

See you at the conference!

Can What You Eat Prevent Depression?

Did you know that eating a lot of processed foods (most of the foods in the center aisles) may be related to developing depression? A study recently reported by BBC News and passed along to a fellow colleague at Harvard School of Public Health (thanks Rachael!) has reached this conclusion -- and I am apt to agree.

Take-Home Message
Eat a diet rich in whole foods (fruits, vegetables, unprocessed meats, natural fats, and whole grains) and forgo the traditional diet of refined sugars and wheat, artificial fats, and *deli* meat and cheese.

Why should you? 
Because you can might not just impact your waist line, but also your mental health.

Gender and the HPV Vaccine

I need to take a minute to post about a non-school-health related topic: a recent study published in the British Medical Journal concluded that vaccinating males against HPV is not cost-effective. News outlets everywhere have reported on authors' conclusions.

However, are the underlying framework and assumptions of the study authors misguided?

William Saletan published a provocative (go-figure) post on Slate.com on the topic, and I think it is right on. If you have any interested in gender disparities and gender norms this is a very, very interesting topic right now!

Just as a refresher: the vaccine was developed and is currently being used to vaccinate girls. Check out a previous VH post on the male/female controversies of the HPV vaccine that I published earlier this year.

How Healthy is Your Breakfast Cereal?

Cereal is about as commonplace in the American home as peanut butter and jelly (unless you are allergic, I guess). At some point in our nations history, whole cereal grain breakfast that took minutes or hours to prepare were replaced by highly processed refined grain "cereals" that had loads of added sugar and went by the name of Cap'n and Lucky.

Until today's release of the Yale Rudd Center's Cereal Facts website, there was little way to know whether the cereal you were eating was healthy or all hype. Case in point: a friend posted a picture of Facebook with a Fruit Loops box reading "NOW WITH FIBER" on the front package (see yesterday's post for more on this...) which clearly illustrated food industry's widespread marketing of unhealthy food with their "healthy" components placed first, and foremost for consumers to see.

Smart Choices Labeling System Divided, Fails?

The "Smart Choices" label, which was meant to be a guide for consumers to make healthier food choices when shopping the supermarket, may be lying on its deathbed, according to a recent article in the New York Times. A few of the major food industry supporters, including PepsiCo and Kellogg's have cut its ties with the program and will phase out production of products (like Froot Loops cereal) with the Smart Choices logo prominent on the box front. Although, Kraft indicates it has no intentions to remove the logo from its foods.

Mandated H1N1 Vaccination: Right or...Oh, so Wrong?

A good friend and former colleague inspired this post (thanks Joanne) after realizing how media attention to mandated H1N1 vaccination among health workers has grown in the past few weeks. NPR, Time, the New York Times, ABC News all are covering what is an unprecedented move to require health care workers to be vaccinated against swine flu.

While many hospitals and clinics are requiring employees to get vaccinated, the state of New York is requiring all health care workers with patient contact to receive the H1N1 vaccine or face job loss; resistance to this mandate among health care workers has been overwhelming. Fear of side effects and privacy issues top health workers' concerns. However, an August poll shows a vast majority of the public to be supportive of these vaccine requirements among healthcare employees.

There seem to be several streams of thought regarding this issue:

1. Vaccination of all health care workers is needed to protect the public against swine flu spread by providers who come into contact with sick patients
2. Mandatory vaccination is needed to protect other patients in the hospital setting with compromised immune systems (meaning they easily can come down with an illness, like the flu).

But many nurses object, saying that they have never gotten flu in past seasons, so why now? Why this flu shot? Additionally, opponents to mandatory vaccination highlight the fact that the vaccine is not effective 100% of the time. Nurses also worry about the potential side effects of vaccination, particularly whether it would cause them to get sick with the flu.