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Working paper shows COVID-19 is spiking in Red counties, flat in Blue this fall

Graph showing surge in Covid-19 in Red States; Blue States flat

A Harvard Pop Center Working Paper, “The changing political geographies of COVID-19 in the US,” shows that this fall there is a reverse in the trend from the spring, when case counts and excess death rates were higher in counties that lean Democratic. This fall, the counties that lean most Republican are experiencing a spike in cases and death rates, whereas the rates in counties that lean more Democratic are…

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Does cognitive function in older population living in South Africa differ based on HIV status?

Older men and women in South Africa part of the HAALSI study

A team of researchers affiliated with the HAALSI study have published their findings in Nature indicating that cognitive function scores varied depending on whether participants were being assessed using conventional measurement instruments versus one designed for low-literacy settings.

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1-2-3: Counting the missteps of the U.S. Federal Government’s handling of COVID-19

Brick wall with graffiti

A new Harvard Pop Center Working Paper assesses the impact of the U.S. Federal Government’s “missteps” regarding the entry, spread and inequities associated with COVID-19. Authors include: William P. Hanage, Christian Testa, Jarvis T. Chen, L. Davis, Elise Pechter, Mauricio  Santillana, and Nancy Krieger. Photo credit: Nancy Krieger

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Behavioral scientists call for “common-sense” federal policy to help curb diet-related diseases

Head shot of Anna Grummon

In this JAMA Viewpoint, Harvard Bell Fellow Anna Grummon, PhD, along with her colleague Marissa G. Hall, PhD, make a strong case for the implementation of a federal policy mandating that products containing high levels of unhealthy nutrients (e.g. sugar, salt, saturated fat) be labeled with a simple, prominent nutrient warning. Follow the media coverage: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health News Post

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Transgender young women with supportive mothers less likely to have suicidal thoughts

Head shots of Adedotun Ogunbajo and Sari Reisner

The findings of a paper published in LGBT Health by Harvard Pop Center postdoctoral fellow Adedotun Ogunbajo, PhD, and faculty affiliate Sari Reisner, ScD, and their colleagues suggest that interventions targeting the parents of transgender young women could be an effective way to reduce the chances of this population experiencing suicidal ideation.

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Pregnant women exposed to increased threat of eviction within their county at greater risk of premature birth, lower birth weight

Eviction notice taped to a door

Harvard Pop Center graduate student affiliate Aayush Khadka, MS, faculty member Margaret McConnell, PhD, and colleagues Günther Fink, PhD, and Ashley Gromis, PhD, have published a paper that advances the growing body of evidence linking threatened evictions with poor health outcomes. Photo: David Jackmanson on Flickr

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Geo-mapping risk of COVID-19 in India

Map of India with PC districts in background with headline Geo-mapping of COVID-19 Risk Correlates Across Districts and Parliamentary Constituencies

A paper published in a special edition of the Harvard Data Science Review utilizes geo-mapping to identify high-risk areas for the spread of COVID-19 across the Districts and Parliamentary Constituencies of India. The researchers focus on four risk correlates including: population density percentage of population that is exposed to crowding in a household, percentage of population without access to handwashing facilities percentage of population over 65 years of age These…

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Quantifying mental health impacts of Covid-19 lockdowns among senior population in Turkey

Head shot of Onur Altindag

Visiting scientist (and former Harvard Bell Fellow) Onur Altindag, PhD, is an author on a new working paper that sets out to quantify the mental health effects experienced by those aged 65 years and older during a period of strict curfew imposed by the Turkish government in response to Covid-19.  

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Assessing the scale for assessing depression in rural South Africa

Two South African women wearing colorful clothes

Researchers from the Harvard Pop Center in Cambridge, MA and the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa who are affiliated with the HAALSI study have published a paper in the Journal of Affective Disorders that finds that the reliability of the commonly used scale to assess depression (Center for Epidemiologic Depression Scale (CES-D)) differed by gender. Authors of the study include: Leslie B. Adams, Meagan Farrell, Sumaya Mall,…

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COVID-19 statistics by Congressional districts across the United States

Map of Congressional Districts in U.S.

Professor of population health and geography S (Subu) V Subramanian, PhD, and his colleague Priyanka N deSouza have published a paper that presents the first estimates of COVID-19 cumulative cases, deaths and case fatality rates across the 436 policy-relevant Congressional districts in the U.S. Image: Wikimediacommons