september 2010 |
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NOTE: Most of these reports and articles (and many others!) can be accessed from the Health Equity database at the Unnatural Causes companion website.
IN THE NEWS
Re-Broadcast of Unnatural Causes
The San Jose PBS station, KTEH, is rebroadcasting Unnatural Causes September 12 -15. PBS stations have exclusive broadcast rights to the series through March 2012. You can contact your PBS station program director and urge him or her to rebroadcast Unnatural Causes.
TAKING ACTION
Gutting Prevention?
Congressional efforts to gut the Prevention and Public Health Fund from the health care reform act continue this week. The Fund is the major section of the legislation that addresses prevention and the roots of health inequities. To stay abreast of developments and to contact your Congressional representatives, join the Prevention Institute’s Rapid Response Network and visit the Take Action pages of Trust for America’s Health.
Infant Mortality Awareness Month
September is Infant Mortality Awareness Month and the Healthy Start Association has produced a Toolkit to help maternal and infant health organizations promote their initiatives to the media and others.
Many organizations have also been screening the “When the Bough Breaks” episode of Unnatural Causes. Here’s a description of “When the Bough Breaks." And here’s a Discussion Guide
Closing the Black-White Infant Mortality Gap
Michael Lu, MD (featured in “When the Bough Breaks”) and colleagues have put forward a life-course strategy to close the alarming gap in birth outcomes in this article from Ethnicity and Disease.
Transforming the Food System
Recipes for Change: Healthy Food in Every Community showcases opportunities to create a sustainable, equitable food system - from fresh food financing to school nutrition standards to food procurement policies. By the Prevention Institute and Convergence Partnership.
Talking About Health Equity
Stephen Bezruchka, MD, MPH has long been translating SDOHE concepts for popular audiences through his talks, radio appearances and opinion articles (in addition to his academic research). Many of them can be accessed on the Population Health Forum website.
PUBLICATIONS/REPORTS
Foreclosures and Health Report
The Alameda County (CA) Public Health Dept and Causa Justa just published a pioneering report documenting the widespread health consequences of foreclosures and predatory lending, while also suggesting action and policy recommendations.
The Wealth Gap Grows
New evidence indicates that the wealth gap between African-American and white families has quadrupled during the course of one generation.
Horatio Alger is Dead
The U.S. as a whole has by far greater income inequality and less economic mobility than most every other rich nation. Yet fewer Americans believe that coming from a wealthy family is “very important” to getting ahead, nor that U.S. income differences are “too large.” Just a coincidence? See this Brookings / Pew report, Economic Mobility: Is the American Dream Alive and Well? Contains some great graphs!
Healing the Hurt
John Rich, MD, MPH and others explore the roles trauma and adversity play in the lives of Latino and African American boys and young men, and examine trauma-informed approaches to improving their health in "Healing the Hurt".
Measures of National Well-Being
Many have argued for alternative indicators to the GDP that actually measure Americans well-being. This State of Society report by the Urban Institute assesses several dozen such indicators, from the Human Development Index to the State of Working America.
WHAT OTHER NATIONS ARE DOING TO CLOSE THE GAP
Health in All Policies
Papers from the Health in All Policies international meeting, held in Adelaide, Australia in April, have been published in the July issue of the Public Health Bulletin of South Australia.
Cross-Sectoral Coalitions
The Public Health Agency of Canada has also been pushing ahead with how to integrate health into all policies with this report, Crossing Sectors: Experiences in Intersectoral Action, Public Policy and Health which was written for the WHO Commission for the Social Determinants of Health.
Responses to the Marmot Review
The UK’s response to the WHO CSDH call for action was encapsulated by the Marmot Review, whose recommendations, “Fair Society, Healthy Lives”, were released in February. While their future under the new Tory government is uncertain, they are being debated in academic circles, including this special issue of Social Science and Medicine (Note: subscription required).
Final DETERMINE Report
And finally, this report on EU government efforts to narrow health inequities shows, yet again, how far behind U.S. policy making is.
ABOUT US
UNNATURAL CAUSES was produced by California Newsreel in association with Vital Pictures, Inc. California Newsreel is the oldest non-profit documentary production and distribution center in the country, now celebrating its 42nd anniversary.
For more information on our extensive collections of acclaimed DVDs, click on the links below or visit us at www.newsreel.org.
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