To the Associate Managing Editor for Standards, I recently read Jennifer Percy’s feature in The New York Times Magazine titled: Trapped by the ‘Walmart of Heroin’ published on October 10, 2018. As a subscriber of The Times and resident of Philadelphia, I was glad to see more attention and quality reporting on this important issue. I was… Continue reading
Posts in "Health"
To Prevent Gun Violence, Look to Public Health
After mass shootings we often ask: Could this have been prevented? Yes. We can prevent gun violence. “The public health approach emphasizes prevention and focuses not only on the gun user but also the instrument of violence and the environment.” https://t.co/jz6kC9tvjS 1/13 — Justin Gero 🦅 (@JustinGero) February 18, 2018 The public health approach to… Continue reading
A Brief History of Philadelphia’s Syringe Exchange
Philadelphia in the 1980s was a city desperate for, yet stubbornly resistant to, change. The election of W. Wilson Goode, Philadelphia’s first African American mayor, had failed to bring the kind of sweeping reforms in which many in the city had hoped. By 1991, Philadelphia had struggled with two decades of job loss, population decline,… Continue reading
The Measles Vaccine is an Obvious Success [Infographic]
Collaboration with Berly Laycox.
Debunking a Classic Anti-Vaccine Claim
One of the strongest arguments in support of vaccines comes from a historical perspective. The argument is simple. A hundred years ago everyone in the world would be infected or affected by a disease that is today, vaccine preventable. Since the invention and widespread use of vaccines, diseases like polio, diphtheria, and rubella are virtually… Continue reading
Death Investigation in Pennsylvania
When someone dies unexpectedly in Pennsylvania, authorities launch a death investigation. A quality investigation is important; it can be an effective tool to protect public safety and health. In Pennsylvania, the person in charge of determining the cause of death and issuing a death certificate is either the county coroner or medical examiner. A 2003… Continue reading
Good News: Philadelphia HPV Immunization Rates are High
This graph shows that Philadelphia’s 2014 teen rates for ≥1 dose of HPV vaccine are higher than the state and national averages. Last week the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the National Immunization Survey (NIS) for adolescents in 2014. Since it was licensed in 2006, HPV vaccine rates have been far… Continue reading