A study published by researchers affiliated with the French Constances cohort (a nationally representative sample of 200,000 adults aged between 18 and 69) reveals that neighborhoods suffering from socioeconomic deprivation were linked to cognitive impairment. Harvard Pop Center Director Lisa Berkman, PhD, is co-PI on the project and one of the study authors.
A team of researchers has found that those older adults in South Africa participating in the HAALSI study who demonstrated higher cognitive function and literacy levels were more likely to be knowledgeable about their own HIV status. The findings suggest that campaigns aimed at increasing HIV testing should factor in the cognitive function and literary level of the targeted audience.
Is it possible to improve population health through social policies that target early life, income and health insurance? The findings of a comprehensive systematic review of randomized social experiments provide evidence that social interventions have the potential to improve health. A recent Harvard Bell Fellow, Emilie Courtin, and her colleagues have published their findings in The Milbank Quarterly, and the review has received attention in the media.
Harvard Pop Center faculty member Ashish Jha, MD, MPH, and colleague Aaron E. Carroll, have outlined a plan in The Atlantic that explains the difference between suppression and mitigation in terms of tackling the coronavirus, and outlines a constructive path forward. Please read!
In this blog post, Professor Ann Forsyth, PhD, urban planner and architect, examines three smaller scale habitats and the built environment—cities and regions, neighborhoods, and the home—in the context of infectious disease.
Faculty member David Cutler, PhD, has published a policy proposal that puts forth several reforms to the U.S. health-care system that target lowering administrative costs, which account for one-quarter to one-third of total health-care spending.
Sociologist Beth Truesdale, PhD, our research associate and recent Sloan Fellow on Aging and Work, is quoted in this piece in TheBodyPro, for the AIDS/HIV workforce, regarding the challenges that people face when trying to return to work after an illness.
Three researchers affiliated with the Harvard Pop Center* are among the authors of a study in Pediatrics that looked at changes in US adolescent reported sexual orientation and suicide attempts by sexual orientation from 2009–2017. Authors on the study include: Julia Raifman, Brittany M. Charlton, Renata Arrington-Sanders, Philip A. Chan, Jack Rusley, Kenneth H. Mayer, Michael D. Stein, S. Bryn Austin and Margaret McConnell*. Photo: Seven Seas of Rhye on…
Faculty member Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH, is an author on a study that examines the association between the expansion of Medicaid (under the Affordable Care Act) and changes in healthcare spending among recipients from 2014– 2017. Other authors on the paper include: Hiroshi Gotanda, Gerald F. Kominski, and Yusuke Tsugawa. Learn more in this UCLA Research Brief.
Faculty member Nancy Krieger, PhD, has shared her viewpoint in this piece published in the Journal of Public Health Policy that calls for those in the public health and medical field, in particular, to take practical action steps to better integrate the realms of democratic governance, climate change, and health inequities. She outlines actionable steps, along with information-rich resources, in a table. Photo: Alisdare Hickson on Flickr