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Posts tagged public health
Impact of Chronic Underfunding on America's Public Health System: Trends, Risks, and Recommendations 2023

By Mckillop, Matt; Lieberman, Dara Alpert

From the document: "The United States spends trillions of dollars annually on healthcare, but U.S. residents are not getting healthier and tend to experience worse health outcomes than residents of other high-income countries that spend comparably less money on healthcare. Keeping everyone safe from diseases, disasters, the health impacts of climate change, and bioterrorism requires a public health system focused on prevention, equity, preparedness, and surveillance. Investment to ensure foundational public health capabilities is key. Foundational public health capabilities include assessment and surveillance, emergency preparedness and response, community partnership development, communications, policy development and support, organizational accountability and performance management, and a focus on equity. Interagency and jurisdictional planning and cooperation are also critical, as are efforts to address the needs of population groups or communities at greatest risk. All of these activities require dedicated and sustained funding and a well-resourced public health infrastructure and workforce, one that has the resources to deal with its everyday work and that is well-positioned to quickly pivot and scale up during emergencies. [...] To advance equity, successful public health systems promote structural conditions that support optimal health for all and work to remove systemic barriers that have resulted in health disparities. In addition, a strong public health system comprises federal, state, tribal, territorial, and local health agencies working within a network that includes healthcare providers, public safety agencies, human service and charity organizations, education and youth development organizations, recreation and arts-related organizations, economic and philanthropic organizations, and environmental agencies and organizations. [...] Experts agree that increased and sustained funding to strengthen the country's public health system is urgently needed, particularly in the areas of data infrastructure and workforce." The associated Fact Sheets are available here: www.tfah.org/chronic-underfunding-in-public-health-fact-sheets/

Trust For America's Health. 2023. 52p.

Confronting the Inevitability Myth: How Data-Driven Gun Policies Save Lives from Suicide

By Americans for Responsible Solutions Foundation; Law Center for Prevent Gun Violence

The evidence is clear: firearm access contributes greatly to suicide rates, with guns accounting for nearly half of all suicide deaths but just 5% of suicide attempts. As dispiriting as this statistic may be, beneath it lies hope—by taking steps to prevent suicidal people from accessing guns, the most lethal means of suicide, we can make a lifesaving difference. The solutions are already there. We just have to implement them. Confronting the Inevitability Myth represents the culmination of a yearlong project by the attorneys at the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence to study and analyze suicide in America. We took a hard look at the numbers and the harrowing stories behind them, and identified the smart gun laws and intervention programs that are most effective at saving lives from suicide. And when you ensure that a person in mental crisis doesn't get their hands on a gun, you really are saving a life. As you'll learn in the coming pages, most people who attempt suicide with methods other than a firearm survive, and most survivors never attempt suicide again, going on to live long lives and contribute positively to society. In other words, the idea that suicide is inevitable is a myth, and a deadly one at that. We hope that this report will help dispel this myth, spark conversation, and motivate lawmakers and community leaders to adopt the strategies proven to prevent gun suicide.

Americans for Responsible Solutions Foundation; Law Center for Prevent Gun Violence, 2017. 92p.

Crime, Addiction and The Regulation of Gambling

Edited by Toine Spapens , Alan Littler and Cyrille Fijnaut

This is the third book to be produced by members of the Gambling Research Group - associated with Tilburg University's Faculty of Law concerning issues closely connected with the debate on the gambling policies that the European Union and its Member States are pursuing. The first book - Alan Littler and Cyrille Fijnaut (eds), "The Regulation of Gambling: European and National Perspectives" (Leiden, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2007) - mainly considers the legal aspects of gambling regulation, at both European Union and Member State level. The second book - Tom Coryn, Cyrille Fijnaut and Alan Littler (eds), "Economic Aspects of Gambling Regulation: EU and US Perspectives" (Leiden, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2008) - looks at research conducted in the United States and the European Union into the costs and benefits involved in the regulation of gambling.The contributions to this third book turn the spotlight on two social problems: crime and addiction, both of which play a significant part in the institutional debate in the European Union concerning whether gambling should be treated as a service that - like other services - should be subject to the laws universally applicable to the internal market. This volume is primarily devoted to the research that has been conducted in several Member States into the problems of gambling-related crime and addiction. It also examines developments at EU level: what policy is the European Commission currently pursuing and what stance does the European Court of Justice take these days. Crime and addiction problems that can arise in the context of online gambling and at possible ways of keeping them under control are also examined.

Leiden; Boston: Martinus Nijhoff, 2008. 269p.

The Historical Foundations of the Narcotic Drug Control Regime

By Julia Buxton

This paper outlines the institutional history of the international narcotic drug control regime. It details the evolution of the control system, from its foundations at the beginning of the twentieth century - a period of mass, unregulated narcotic drug use - to the current period. The paper argues that the contemporary control model is ill-positioned to address the dynamic and rapidly changing nature of the global narcotics trade. The persistence of anachronistic guiding first principles, specifically the utopian idea of prohibition, is identified as the key impediment to the adoption of a more humane and effective policy approach. But while there is growing pressure for a revision of founding ideas, this is not supported by a host of powerful actors that includes the United States.

Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2008. 32p.

Civic Insecurity: Law, Order and HIV in Papua New Guinea

Edited by: Vicki Luker, Sinclair Dinnen.

Papua New Guinea has a complex ‘law and order’ problem and an entrenched epidemic of HIV. This book explores their interaction. It also probes their joint challenges and opportunities—most fundamentally for civic security, a condition that could offer some immunity to both.

Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2010. 356p.

Chemical Youth

By Anita Hardon.

Navigating Uncertainty in Search of the Good Life. Situates chemical enhancement in terms of the challenges that young people face in managing a range of expectations and pressures. Uses ethnographic material from young people across the globe, including The Netherlands, USA, Indonesia and the Philippines. Examines how young people view the risks of using chemical substances, confronting the uncertainty of the practice while also attending to the perceived benefits.

Cham: Springer, 2021. 335p

The Role of Community-Mindedness in the Self-Regulation of Drug Cultures

By Anke Stallwitz.

A Case Study from the Shetland Islands. “The objective of the empirical study presented in this book was to investigate the location-specific aspects impacting on the features and social structure of the heroin scene in Shetland as perceived by local heroin users. Furthermore, participants’ representations concerning the characteristics of various types of heroin users and user groups as embedded in the overall structure of the subculture were examined.”

Springer (2012) 388p.

The Diseases of Society

By George Frank Lydston.

The Vice and Crime Problem.. From the preface by the author: “Twenty-five years ago I witnessed a legal murder, — the hanging of two unfortunate youths condemned for an illegal murder. Neither was over twenty-one years of age. The assassination was unprovoked, unpremeditated and committed by stabbing….’They after better off dead,’ the law said.”

Lippincott (1904) 662 pages.