In this JAMA Forum, Ashish Jha, MD, a Harvard Center for Population and Development faculty member, expresses praise – and some words of caution – regarding a new government program dedicated to exploring the social determinants of health. The demonstration project, Accountable Health Communities (AHCs), will assess whether addressing health-related social needs among Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries can reduce health care costs at the community level.
Are children who lose a parent at greater risk of physical stunting?
Harvard Pop Center Research Scientist Jocelyn Finlay, PhD, and faculty members Gunther Fink, PhD, and Wafai Fawzi, DrPH, are authors on a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health that has found young children in low- and middle-income countries who have lost a mother are at increased risk of stunting. Being in the care of the surviving parent (or grandparents), however, was found to mitigate these adverse…
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Why is Flint community particularly vulnerable to lead pipe water contamination?
Harvard RWJF Health & Society Scholar alum Kristi Pullen, PhD, comments on why the Flint community is particularly vulnerable to the water contamination issue in this news piece on gizmodo.com.
Early childhood social disadvantage linked to risky health behaviors in adulthood
A new study by former Harvard RWJF Health & Society Scholar Amy Non, and Pop Center faculty member Laura Kubzansky published in the Annals of Human Biology finds that children who experienced early social disadvantage were, as adults, almost four times as likely to smoke, three times more likely to be obese, and almost five times more likely to drink alcohol excessively (women only).
Eliminating ‘food deserts’ not a panacea for improving diet quality & reducing disparities
Harvard Pop Center faculty members Jason Block, MD, and SV Subramanian (Subu), PhD, have co-authored a paper published in PLOS Medicine that suggests that when it comes reducing dietary disparities and improving dietary quality in the U.S. there are more effective strategies than increasing access to healthy foods (eliminating ‘food deserts’). Learn more in this Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health news post, in this piece on MedicalDaily.com and…
Despite economic progress, millions of women in low- and middle-income countries still severely undernourished
Harvard Pop Center faculty and researchers, including Fahad Razak, MD, former Bell Fellow and current visiting scientist, as well as former Bell Fellow Daniel Corsi, PhD, Pop Center Director Lisa Berkman, PhD, and faculty member SV Subramanian (Subu), PhD, are among the authors of a novel study published in JAMA on severe, chronic, adult undernutrition. The study provides the first global estimate of severe undernutrition (defined by body mass index…
Does work stress combined with family circumstances impact mortality of US mothers?
Many previous studies have separately linked job stress and family circumstances with later-life mortality among working mothers, but a new study published in Social Science & Medicine by Recent Pop Center Fellow Erika Sabbath, Harvard Pop Center Research Associate Iván Mejía-Guevara, former Bell Fellow Clemens Noelke, and Harvard Pop Center Director Lisa Berkman explores how job stress combined with family circumstances, such as being a single mother, may jointly impact…
When humanitarian disasters strike, do unconditional cash transfers improve use of health services & health outcomes?
Sze Yan (Sam) Liu, PhD, Harvard Pop Center principal analyst in the Research Core, is an author on a paper published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews that evaluates the impact of unconditional cash transfers (UCTs), a form of humanitarian assistance during disasters, on the use of healthcare services and health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Montez briefs Congress on education as key factor in health and longevity
Jennifer Karas Montez, PhD, Harvard RWJF Health & Society Scholars program alumna, briefed Congress on the impact of education on mortality and health at a Congressional briefing sponsored by PAA.
American Heart Association statement calls for attention to social determinants of health
“Although we have traditionally considered CVD the consequence of certain modifiable and nonmodifiable physiological, lifestyle, and genetic risk factors, we must now broaden the focus to incorporate a third arm of risk, the social determinants of health.” Thus concluded the American Heart Association Science Advisory and Coordinating Committee in a landmark scientific statement reviewing the influence of social factors on the incidence, treatment, and outcomes of CVD. Former RWJF Health…