866: Enhancing Island Workforce, ‘Own The Awk’ Campaign

JANSON SILVERS: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Wednesday, March 19, 2025. I'm Janson Silvers. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

SOULMAZ ROSTAMI: 

The [...] Pacific Public Health Fellowship Program, or PPHFP for short, it's a two-year training program for new college graduates, and it really provides them the opportunity to gain practical, hands-on public health experience so they can enter the public health workforce on a strong footing.

SILVERS: 

Soulmaz Rostami serves as the program manager for the Pacific Public Health Fellowship Program. You just heard Rostami explaining how the Pacific Island Health Officers Association, or PIHOA, is working to solve a dire workforce shortage.

ROSTAMI: 

We see a critical workforce shortage everywhere, but I would say, hand on heart, it's disproportionately high here in the Pacific. And so, that's probably one of the reasons why the demand for more and more fellows across more and more host site programs and islands is really there from our departments of health and our ministries of health.

SILVERS: 

The program has really grown in the last five years.

ROSTAMI: 

The program started in 2020 with just two fellows, but we've now grown significantly to 43 fellows across nine host site islands. So, they span across all the U.S. flag territories of Guam, American Samoa, and the three freely associated states of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia.

SILVERS: 

Participants in the program are learning how to truly contribute to public health.

ROSTAMI: 

And these public health fellows are trained for two years, but they also lead innovative projects that meaningfully contribute to their host site program. They are developing new SOPs, creating new health dashboards, health registries, and introducing new systems and processes that really didn't exist before. So, PPHFP doesn't just add value to building up the fellow, but it also adds value to building up the health programs in the U.S. APIs.

SILVERS: 

You can learn more about the Pacific Public Health Fellowship Program when you click the link in the show notes.

The National Coalition for Sexual Health has launched a new campaign called, 'Own the Awk.' Susan Gilbert with the National Coalition for Sexual Health explains.

SUSAN GILBERT:

The campaign is designed to empower young adults to talk openly and honestly with their partners about sexual health and relationship topics. Our audience is young adults, ages 18 to 26 across the country, and we're using humor, awkward portraits, and real-life scenarios to really help young adults build their confidence and navigate these often difficult or embarrassing topics.

SILVERS: 

Gilbert says the research they did was revealing.

GILBERT:

Over 50% of young adults told us through these surveys that they have a fair amount or a great deal of anxiety starting these conversations, and at least 85% want to talk more openly with their partners about sexual health and relationship topics, and almost 100% of them want to improve their communication skills.

SILVERS: 

While the need is there, so are barriers, which is why the campaign is vital.

GILBERT: 

Fear about how their partners will react, a lack of skills and knowledge, embarrassment, and low self-confidence. We also know that communication matters in all types of relationships, whether they're casual or serious, short- or long-term, or exclusive or non-exclusive. So, that really gives a good foundation, I think, for why we felt it was important to create this campaign.

SILVERS: 

To learn more about the campaign, just click the link in the show notes.

Also today, learn more about Public Health AmeriCorps in less than one month from today. O'Keyla Cooper explains.

O'KEYLA COOPER: 

Mark your calendars for Thursday, April 3, from 3-4 p.m. ET, as ASTHO highlights the impact of Public Health AmeriCorps on workforce development. Hear from experts at the Indiana Department of Health and NACDD as they discuss innovative approaches, success stories, and lessons learned in integrating PHA members into public health initiatives. Register now through the link in the show notes.

SILVERS: 

Finally, this morning, sign up for ASTHO's Public Health Weekly newsletter. You can have all the latest public health news delivered to your inbox each week so you never miss a story. There's a link in the show notes to sign up.

That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Janson Silvers, you're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.