447: Ending Hepatitis C in Prisons, Mosquito Control Awareness Week

JANSON SILVERS: 

This is Public Health Review Morning Edition for Friday, June 23, 2023. I'm Janson Silvers. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

JOHN WARD: 

In prisoners, an estimated 15%, or about one out of every seven prisoners, are infected with hepatitis C in the United States.

JANSON SILVERS: 

And while that number is too high, Dr. John Ward with the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination says it's also an opportunity.

JOHN WARD: 

It all starts with recommending routine testing for people when they enter prison so you can identify those that are currently infected, educate them a bit as to why treatment is important. And then make that treatment available in prison. And you can even test them as they leave, just in case they make get exposures to Hepatitis C.

JANSON SILVERS: 

Ward says President Biden has proposed a budget that includes money to end Hepatitis C by 2030.

JOHN WARD: 

Making resources available for prisons is a major part of that national program. So stay tuned for that. Please be an advocate for that when you hear about that being discussed with your legislators, because it's the biggest opportunity we have had in this country to achieve elimination goals for the country, including for people while they're incarcerated.

JANSON SILVERS: 

The coalition released a report focused on Hepatitis C in prisons in March. Ward says the prison strategy is key to elimination of the disease.

JOHN WARD: 

Eliminating hepatitis C for people in prisons is just the right thing to do. They have a high prevalence. This is a life threatening disease, and they're at risk of transmitting this to others.

JANSON SILVERS: 

You can read the report using the link in the show notes.

As National Mosquito Control Awareness Week nears a close, today we're looking at Dengue. Marisa Wong with ASTHO's environmental health team tells us the vector-borne disease doesn't currently have a treatment, but there may be hope for prevention.

MARISA WONG: 

A new Dengue vaccine for prevention was recently approved for children aged nine to 16 years old. So, to be eligible for this vaccine, children need to have a previous laboratory-confirmed Dengue virus infection and live in an area where Dengue is endemic or continually occurring.

JANSON SILVERS: 

For those not eligible for the vaccine. Keeping track of Dengue prevalence is the best way to prevent outbreaks.

MARISA WONG: 

Really emphasizing the importance of vector control programs. Their work in mosquito surveillance and vector control really helps determine the disease stereotypes and resistance testing, which just better informs all of the public health campaigns.

JANSON SILVERS: 

You can find an ASTHO blog on Dengue preparedness in the show notes.

Also, today, a new tool can help agencies identify measures for their suicide prevention programs. O'Keyla Cooper has more.

O'KEYLA COOPER: 

Join us for a live demo of the Suicide Prevention Indicator Explorer Tool on June 26 at 2:00 PM Eastern Time. Developed by ASTHO and the CDC, this interactive tool assists health agencies in identifying measures for suicide prevention programs. During the webinar, participants will learn how to use the Explorer to identify data to demonstrate suicide burden and recognize prevention strategies. The registration link is located in the show notes.

JANSON SILVERS: 

Finally, this morning, we learned so much at this year's TechXpo, but if you didn't have the chance to make it to Chicago or want to revisit a session, you still can. Registration to watch the live stream video on demand is open through June 30. A link to sign up is in the show notes.

That will do it for today's newscast. We're back Monday morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Janson Silvers, you're listening to Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great weekend.