scholarly journals Beyond HHS: An Analysis of Federal Resources Which Exhibit Impacts of the United States Opioid Epidemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Emily Alford

In recent years, the opioid crisis across the United States has influenced the research of many professional fields. Widely known as a first stop information source for analysts and professionals in the medical and public health worlds, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) gathers and presents extensive data on prescription rates and overdose numbers to the public. However, the opioid crisis is a collective matter. It holds cause and effect economically, environmentally, and socially. This article explores resources developed by federal departments outside of HHS, which provide useful data and information relevant to their fields on such impacts. Departments such as Agriculture, Education, Labor, Housing and Urban Development—even the General Services Administration—make available statistics both the public and researchers can access to learn more about the effects of this crisis.

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 94 (6) ◽  
pp. 952-954
Author(s):  
Martin S. Robinette

The importance of early identification of hearing loss is summarized in the report issued by the United States (US) Department of Health and Human Services,1 entitled "Healthy People 2000." The goal is to reduce the average age at which children with significant hearing impairment are identified to no more than 12 months. The report states: The future of a child born with significant hearing impairment depends to a very large degree on early identification (ie, audiological diagnosis before 12 months of age) followed by immediate and appropriate intervention.


Author(s):  
Jordan Hunter

AbstractAgroterrorism is a subform of bioterrorism with the potential to have a crippling impact on both the agricultural industry and the food supply of a nation. A calculated attack using a miniscule amount of pathogenic or disease causing substances on the livestock or crops in one rural community can spread to animals and metropolitan regions much farther away long before any response from state or federal veterinary or agricultural organizations. Although there have been no large-scale agroterrorism attacks in the United States, there have been historical precedents for agricultural biological warfare and recent examples of unintentional or accidental spread of pathogens in the food supply that have threatened the health and safety of the public. Along with an ongoing push for preparedness to prevent a biological attack on the U.S. agricultural industry, there is a great deal of uncertainty and conflict among landowners, farmers, analysts, and politicians about what methods should be implemented to safeguard the public. In response to this possible threat, the United States government has implemented legislation that it considers preemptive in its ability to safeguard the food supply and manage the public health and/or biological crime response in a widespread agroterrorist attack scenario. However, this requires cooperation on both the state and federal levels, and of several agencies including the department of Health, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Health and Human Services. This paper examines the steps being taken by the USDA in fulfilling the orders of the federal government in response to the looming threat of agroterrorism and how the TAHC works cooperatively with federal agencies and the private agricultural industry to carry out these regulations.


2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenine K. Harris ◽  
Bobbi J. Carothers ◽  
Lana M. Wald ◽  
Sarah C. Shelton ◽  
Scott J. Leischow

<em>Background</em>. In public health, interpersonal influence has been identified as an important factor in the spread of health information, and in understanding and changing health behaviors. However, little is known about influence in public health leadership. Influence is important in leadership settings, where public health professionals contribute to national policy and practice agendas. Drawing on social theory and recent advances in statistical network modeling, we examined influence in a network of tobacco control leaders at the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). <em>Design and Methods.</em> Fifty-four tobacco control leaders across all 11 agencies in the DHHS were identified; 49 (91%) responded to a web-based survey. Participants were asked about communication with other tobacco control leaders, who influenced their work, and general job characteristics. Exponential random graph modeling was used to develop a network model of influence accounting for characteristics of individuals, their relationships, and global network structures. <em>Results</em>. Higher job ranks, more experience in tobacco control, and more time devoted to tobacco control each week increased the likelihood of influence nomination, as did more frequent communication between network members. Being in the same agency and working the same number of hours per week were positively associated with mutual influence nominations. Controlling for these characteristics, the network also exhibited patterns associated with influential clusters of network members. <em>Conclusions</em>. Findings from this unique study provide a perspective on influence within a government agency that both helps to understand decision-making and also can serve to inform organizational efforts that allow for more effective structuring of leadership.


2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Shah

Drug companies' quest for speedy results has led to a boom in trials based in developing countries, where ethical standards may be lax and the impoverished sick abundant. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General's office, the number of researchers based outside the United States seeking new drug approvals has increased 16-fold over the last decade. In this article, a 1996 Pfizer trial in Nigeria—the subject of a controversial class-action suit—illustrates the dangers.


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