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Dr. Manisha Juthani, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health, outlines the continued challenges to public health legal authority; Maggie Davis, ASTHO director of State Health Policy, discusses a big win for Indiana as funding for public...
Dr. Manisha Juthani, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health, outlines the continued challenges to public health legal authority; Maggie Davis, ASTHO director of State Health Policy, discusses a big win for Indiana as funding for public health will jump by 1500 percent; and learn how to protect your agency from a cyber-attack in an ASTHO video discussion.
ASTHO Blog Article: Public Health’s Silent Defender – Cybersecurity
ROBERT JOHNSON:
This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Wednesday, December 13, 2023. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
MANISHA JUTHANI:
There have been areas that have been trying to limit the authority of government in this respect but fortunately, many of those efforts have failed.
JOHNSON:
Connecticut Health Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani, on continued challenges to public health legal authority.
JUTHANI:
So, some of these different efforts to limit vaccine uptake or limit the authority of government to protect the health of people at large have been concerning because we want to be able to retain the tools at our disposal to limit disease spread at large.
JOHNSON:
Often, these challenges are driven by misinformation or disinformation. Juthani says agencies have options.
JUTHANI:
One of the ways that health departments are helping to combat that is to meet people where they are at, meet people where they are, in order to help provide information that can inform them best as possible, on credible information, portraying themselves as the trusted source of information so people know where to go when they need that information.
JOHNSON:
Sometimes Juthani says policy actions are needed to ensure public health, as evidenced by her state support for vaccine uptake.
JUTHANI:
In Connecticut, I'm very proud of the fact that we're actually higher than we were even pre-pandemic. One of the ways that we got there was our religious exemption was removed by the legislature, so there's no longer a religious exemption. This has actually resulted in a higher rate of immunization among kindergarten children in our state.
JOHNSON:
Legal authority and immunization policy are examined as part of ASTHO's 2024 Legislative Prospectus series. We began our coverage of the series on Monday, and we'll continue with regular installments into the new year. You can read more using the links in the show notes.
Funding for public health in Indiana will jump by 1500% thanks to support that began with the state's governor and extended to the business community and local organizations across the state. ASTHO's Maggie Davis says the economic message was a key factor in winning passage of the funding proposal.
MAGGIE DAVIS:
So, being able to get the support of broad community groups, the eventual bill was actually supported by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and really seeing this as an all of community investment in the community health and that shared goal and decision-making.
JOHNSON:
Davis says a commitment to local control also resonated with audiences.
DAVIS:
The other key thing with Indiana is that they heard from their constituents, their local community, that what was really important to them was an onus on local control. So, when they developed this new system and investment, they really prioritized local jurisdictions choosing this investment choosing to kind of take the steps of core public health services.
JOHNSON:
ASTHO has written a case study to help other agencies learn from the Indiana experience. You can download it now using the link in the show notes.
Also today, learn how to protect your agency from a cyberattack in a new ASTHO video discussion available online. Experts in cybersecurity share how jurisdictions can prepare for and prevent attacks on systems needed to keep services up and running. There's a link to the video in the show notes.
Finally, this morning, ASTHO's Public Health Weekly email newsletter has everything you need to know about the latest in public health. It has links to the newest content created to help you do your work. Join the list via the link in the show notes.
Before we go, we'd like to remind you to follow this newscast on your podcast player and ASTHO on social media. We're on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. That'll do it for today.
We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Robert Johnson. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.
