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Kinetra Joseph, Campaign Director for the CDC Foundation, says the Foundation’s Live to the Beat initiative has had a successful first year; Dr. Christopher King, Dean of the Georgetown University School of Health, spent much of his career studying...
Kinetra Joseph, Campaign Director for the CDC Foundation, says the Foundation’s Live to the Beat initiative has had a successful first year; Dr. Christopher King, Dean of the Georgetown University School of Health, spent much of his career studying issues affecting historically marginalized and disenfranchised communities and is using that lens to look at COVID-19 impacts; and an ASTHO report guides readers through challenges and steps associated with developing health equity standards and measures.
Live to the Beat Campaign Webpage
ASTHO Report: Measuring Health Equity for Planning and Performance Improvement
ROBERT JOHNSON:
This is Public Health Review Morning Edition for Thursday, February 23, 2023. I'm Robert Johnson.
Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
KINETRA JOSEPH:
CDC Foundation's Live to the Beat campaign is a national cardiovascular disease prevention campaign created for the Black community and formed by the Black community.
JOHNSON:
Kinetra Joseph is the campaign director of the CDC Foundation's Alliance for the Million Hearts. She's talking about the Foundation's Live to the Beat initiative.
JOSEPH:
Now, we know that heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States and cardiovascular disease is the number one contributor to all racial disparities in life expectancy. Unfortunately, the pandemic took things from bad to worse. CDC data recently released shows the pandemic set us back as a nation five years in preventing heart disease deaths. Now, that's for all races and ethnicities, and it's double that for Black adults in the U.S.
JOHNSON:
Joseph says the campaign's first year has been a big success.
JOSEPH:
We launched the Pulse Check, which is an interactive online experience that allows people to customize their small steps for lowering their risk, and we generated nearly 480,000 connections to that pulse check in one year. We reached more than 11,000 people through wellness activities in partnership with historically Black colleges and universities and other Black-owned organizations. We produced a suite of 65 health promotion and prevention education resources developed specifically for the audience, and generated more than 412 million media impressions with the key audience. So, we're really pleased with the first year.
JOHNSON:
She adds the campaign has even bigger plans in year two.
JOSEPH:
So, we want to build on that awareness to connect more of our audience with culturally relevant education and prevention resources delivered by trusted messengers in their community, health departments, and others. So, we're excited to build on that momentum and reach individuals more in the places where they live, work, play, and practice.
JOHNSON:
You can read more about the campaign and get a campaign toolkit using the link in the show notes.
The dean of the Georgetown University School of Health, Dr. Christopher King, has spent much of his career studying issues affecting historically marginalized and disenfranchised communities. His latest work considers the impact of COVID-19.
CHRISTOPHER KING:
We knew that this would be a tsunami for particularly communities of color in the United States. And so, I joined many of my colleagues in digging deeper to identify, you know, communities that are hard hit, why are those communities hard hit, and what can be done as we think about the future, because we know that there will be another pandemic at some point.
JOHNSON:
King says something else we've learned from the pandemic might surprise some people.
KING:
The other thing that, you know, that I think about with COVID was how it really did help, I think, mainstream folks understand that, you know, race is a social construct. And it's really about our environment, our social conditions, that really do impact our health and wellbeing. And in the event of another pandemic, those conditions really do play a role.
JOHNSON:
Among the many lessons of the pandemic, King finds one critical takeaway.
KING:
I think the big takeaway for all of us is, let's take this time now to invest in communities to be sure that they have the infrastructure for people to live well and to manage conditions when they're faced with some of life's most difficult challenges.
JOHNSON:
Also today, a new ASTHO report guides readers through challenges and steps associated with developing health equity standards and measures. It considers how jurisdictions use equity-related terms and established metrics. The report also provides recommendations. You can download ASTHO'S measuring health equity report using the link in the show notes.
Finally this morning, get the latest public health news delivered to your email inbox every week. Sign up for ASTHO's Public Health Weekly email newsletter. Join the list using the link in the show notes.
That'll do it for today's newscast. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information.
I'm Robert Johnson. You're listening to Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.
