America’s Homelessness Crisis

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Charley E. Willison
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
The United States ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Chronic Homelessness ◽  
Municipal Governments ◽  
The Life Course

Homelessness is a public health problem. From rising housing costs to discriminatory lending and leasing, natural disasters, and mental illness, homelessness has many different causes and many similar effects: serious adverse consequences for physical and mental health across the life course. This chapter makes the case for homelessness as a public health problem, with chronic homelessness as scope of focus for this book. This chapter then introduces the main question of the book: If municipalities are the site of the U.S. homeless epidemic, what are municipal governments doing to address homelessness, and why? This chapter then outlines the role of governance structures in shaping municipal approaches to chronic homelessness, describes the governance system responsible for designing and delivering solutions to homelessness and chronic homelessness in the United States, and the history of homeless policy in America. Finally, this chapter lays the roadmap for the book and subsequent chapters.

Driving and Public Health

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Cell Phone ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Electronic Device ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
The United States ◽  
Distracted Driving ◽  
The Past

Distracted driving is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “the practice of driving a motor vehicle while engaged in another activity, typically one that involves the use of a mobile phone or other electronic device.” However, other distractions not involving the use of a cell phone or texting are important as well, contributing to this burgeoning public health problem in the United States. Examples include talking to other passengers, adjusting the radio or other controls in the car, and daydreaming. Distracted driving has been linked to increased risk of motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) in the United States, representing one of the most preventable leading causes of death for youth ages 16 to 24 years. Undoubtedly, the proliferation of cell phone, global positioning system (GPS), and other in-vehicle and personal electronic device use while driving has led to this rise in distracted driving prevalence. This behavior has impacted society—including individual and commercial drivers, passengers, pedestrians—in countless numbers of ways, ranging from increased MVCs and deaths to the enactment of new driving laws. In 2016, for example, 20 percent of all US pediatric deaths (nearly 4,000 children and adolescents) were due to fatal MVCs. It has been estimated that at any given time, more than 650,000 drivers are using cell phones or manipulating electronic devices while driving. In the United States, efforts are underway to reduce this driving behavior. In the past two decades, state and federal laws have specifically targeted cell phone use and texting while driving as priority areas for legal intervention. Distracted driving laws have become “strategies of choice” for tackling this public health problem, though their enforcement has emerged as a major challenge and varies by jurisdiction and location. Multimodal interventions using models such as the “three Es” framework—Enactment of a law, Education of the public about the law and safety practices, and Enforcement of the law—have become accepted practice or viewed as necessary steps to successfully change this behavior caused by distractions while driving. This Oxford Bibliographies review introduces these and other aspects (including psychological influences and road conditions) of distracted driving through a presentation of annotated resources from peer- and non-peer-reviewed literature. This selective review aims to provide policymakers, program implementers, and researchers with a reliable source of information on the past and current state of American laws, policies, and priorities for distracted driving.

Defining Commercial Speech in the Context of Food Marketing

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (S1) ◽  
pp. 40-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Pomeranz ◽  
Sabrina Adler
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
First Amendment ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
The United States ◽  
Food Marketing ◽  
Policy Strategy ◽  
Commercial Speech ◽  
Poor Nutrition

Obesity is a public health problem in the United States. Experts have identified the regulation of food marketing as a policy strategy to address obesity and poor nutrition. However, the First Amendment can be a barrier to reducing exposure to problematic food marketing. In recent years, courts have become increasingly protective of speech, and particularly of “commercial speech,” or advertising, which can make it more difficult to regulate certain marketing practices.

scholarly journals The Hazardous Level of Heavy Metals in Different Medicinal Plants and Their Decoctions in Water: A Public Health Problem in Brazil

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Paula F. S. Tschinkel ◽  
Elaine S. P. Melo ◽  
Hugo S. Pereira ◽  
Kassia R. N. Silva ◽  
Daniela G. Arakaki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Medicinal Plants ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Inductively Coupled Plasma ◽  
Hazard Index ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Optical Emission ◽  
The United States ◽  
Emission Spectrometry ◽  
Plant Samples

The determination of Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Na, Zn, and Pb by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES) was performed on dry matter and decoctions of the medicinal plants Cordia salicifolia, Chiococca alba (L.) Hitchc., and Echites peltata used as an appetite suppressant and diuretic in Brazil. The accuracy of the measurements was analyzed by the spike recovery test. Results showed that the concentration of these seven metals (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Na, and Zn) in dry plant samples is below the oral concentration of elemental impurities established by the United States Pharmacopoeia Convention (USP). However, there are no concentration limits for Fe, Na, and Zn established by the USP in drug substances and excipients. Levels higher than the recommended value by the USP were observed for Pb and the lowest for Cd, Co, Cr, and Cu, both in dried plant samples and their decoctions. In the decoctions prepared from these plants were found elements such as Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Na, Zn, and Pb. In the decoction prepared from 40 g C. salicifolia leaves and 40 g C. alba wood, the content of Cd is above the oral daily exposure value set by the USP. Hazard index (HI) for decoctions prepared from these plants exceeded the threshold (1). Given the uncertainties associated with the estimates of toxicity values and exposure factors, futures researches should address the possible toxicity in humans. Uncontrolled selling and long-term ingestion of medicinal plants can cause toxicity and interfere with the effect of drugs. Limited knowledge on the interaction potential of medicinal plants poses a challenge and public health problem in Brazil and other countries.

scholarly journals Promising Agents for Chemoprevention of Skin Cancer

2006 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 185-186
Author(s):  
S. P. Stratton ◽  
M. S. Stratton ◽  
D. S. Alberts
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Skin Cancer ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
The United States ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Significant Public Health Problem ◽  
The World ◽  
Significant Public Health

Skin cancer presents a significant public health problem because of its increasing incidence in the United States, Australia, Northern Europe, and other temperate climates around the world. [...]

scholarly journals Thoughts on Drug Policy, Public Health, and Crime: More Support for Decriminalization

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Douglas Husak
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
The United States ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Status ◽  
Drug Problems

In this paper I describe the nature of my interest in drug policy; discuss questions about whether and why drugs pose a public health problem; present some empirical results that bear on whether drug proscriptions might be justified because of their causal role in contributing to crime; hazard a few observations about how a society should deal with drug problems; and comment on the recent opiate epidemic plaguing much of the United States. My overall conclusion is that a good rationale for drug prohibitions has yet to be found, and the liberal alternative to criminalization, which recommends that drug use be treated as a public health problem, is problematic as well---even though it certainly would be an improvement on the status quo. 

scholarly journals Dietary Supplement Polypharmacy: An Unrecognized Public Health Problem?

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole L. Nisly ◽  
Brian M. Gryzlak ◽  
M. Bridget Zimmerman ◽  
Robert B. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Dietary Supplements ◽  
Dietary Supplement ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
The United States ◽  
Inappropriate Use ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Supplement Use ◽  
Dietary Supplement Use

Excessive and inappropriate use of medications, or ‘polypharmacy’, has been recognized as a public health problem. In addition, there is growing use of dietary supplements in the United States; however, little is known about the patterns of supplement use. Recent reports in the literature of cases of excessive or inappropriate use of herbal dietary supplements leading to the term ‘polyherbacy’. The clinical vignettes described in this article highlight the need for further research on the nature and extent of multiple and inappropriate dietary supplement use or ‘dietary supplement polypharmacy’. Clinical interviewing and population surveys both address this issue in complementary ways, and provide a further understanding of dietary supplement use patterns.

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