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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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For policy change in India, it really may take a village

Head shot of Subu and Rockli

Researchers at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies (HCPDS) have been awarded a 2.2 million dollar grant by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health professor of population health and geography and HCPDS faculty member S (Subu) V Subramanian, PhD, and HCPDS research associate Rockli Kim, ScD, are principal investigators (PIs) on the three-year project that aims to provide public policy makers…

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Can psychological insights bring relief to U.S. consumer debt burden?

Harvard RWJF Health & Society Scholar Rourke O’Brien, PhD, is author on a paper in Perspectives in Psychological Science that examines psychological barriers to the responsible use of credit and debt, and suggests ways that policymakers could help to remedy the consumer debt issue in the U.S.

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Does awareness of disability assistance influence how we evaluate health symptoms of others?

Harvard RWJF Health & Society Scholar Rourke O’Brien, PhD, has authored a Short Report in Social Science & Medicine based on evidence from a nationally representative survey. The researcher found that respondents in the experimental group (primed to consider the existence of disability assistance) were less likely to rate the symptoms of a hypothetical individual as severe relative to the control group. In addition, these respondents were more likely to…

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Study estimates tobacco tax increases from 1970-2005 saved over 50,000 lives in U.S. in 2010

A study published in Tobacco Control co-authored by Harvard Pop Center Associate Director David Canning, PhD, has shown that higher tobacco taxes lead to lower total mortality rates and avoided deaths, and suggests that strong tobacco tax policies are essential to improving overall population health.

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RWJF Scholar Christina Roberto co-authors study on impact of ‘food addiction’ on food policy

Pop Center RWJF Health & Society Scholar Christina Roberto, PhD, has co-authored a recently published paper titled “The Impact of ‘Food Addiction’ on Food Policy” that examines how lessons learned from alcohol and tobacco addiction could inform protective policies relating to unhealthy food.