916: MAHA Report, School-Based Health Programs

JANSON SILVERS: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Thursday, May 29, 2025. I'm Janson Silvers. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

SUSAN KANSAGRA: 

Of that 73-page report, the very last page contained some recommendations. They were really geared around research and opportunities for research into the future, but the commission will be releasing a follow-up report that will reportedly have more solutions.

SILVERS: 

Last week, the Trump administration released its Make America Healthy Again report. Dr. Susan Kansagra, ASTHO's chief medical officer, says the report lists a lot of factors contributing to childhood chronic disease.

KANSAGRA: 

For state and local public health, I think this is an opportunity to continue to talk about what state and local public health departments do to support chronic disease prevention. We know many states are funded by CDC to do this work already. They are implementing programs on the ground. Those programs are having an impact, and so sharing and lifting those continues to be important, especially now, as we're seeing more focus on chronic disease, and given we know that there is interest in this topic. However, at the same time, some of the funding for this is at risk of being cut, so continuing to share that work is important.

SILVERS: 

During our interview, Kansagra also addressed last week's vaccine-related announcements. One dealt with a framework on how to improve future COVID- 19 vaccine formulations.

KANSAGRA: 

So, they shared that FDA will review immunogenicity studies for vaccine updates that are geared toward high-risk groups, but when the vaccine is being approved for healthy individuals, they are going to require a higher threshold for effectiveness, including will it require randomized, controlled trials for that population of individuals. So, that represents a change in how vaccine updates have been approved thus far, and we'll see how it plays out this season.

SILVERS: 

Last week's other vaccine-related announcement was from the Vaccine and Related Biologics Advisory Committee.

KANSAGRA: 

They were meeting about the strain selection for the upcoming flu and respiratory viral season. In this case, they were looking at COVID-19 vaccine strain composition. So that group met, and they recommended that FDA use a JN.1 lineage composition vaccine.

SILVERS: 

Kansagra is also monitoring this week's COVID announcements closely to see what happens in the coming days. Make sure you subscribe to this newscast wherever you are listening so you never miss an episode.

May is National Adolescent Health Month. ASTHO's Lexi Giragosian is a senior analyst for maternal and child health and recently worked on an ASTHO brief for members that zeroes in on adolescent health.

LEXA GIRAGOSIAN: 

It's really focused on, you know, why adolescence is a very critical stage of the life course and presents a really unique opportunity to influence long-term health outcomes. So, I really wanted to highlight why public health really prioritizes adolescent health right now in jurisdictions.

SILVERS: 

The brief looks at school-based health programs as an effective strategy.

GIRAGOSIAN: 

Schools reach almost 100% of youth in the United States, so they create a really unique pathway to be able to assess student health as well as implement evidence-based interventions or initiatives that really can promote overall well-being.

SILVERS: 

ASTHO is currently working with CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health to advance school health.

GIRAGOSIAN: 

So, this project is really focused on supporting state and local education agencies and collaboration with health departments to work together to improve things like health education, access to clinical services, and improving mental and sexual health outcomes for adolescents.

SILVERS: 

Dive into the brief by clicking the link in the show notes.

Also on deck today, hear from specialists on strategies to reduce maternal mortality. O'Keyla Cooper has more.

O'KEYLA COOPER: 

Join ASTHO today at 3 p.m. Eastern Time for a webinar on how defined levels of maternal care can reduce maternal mortality and improve health outcomes. Hear from a panel of experts, including health department leaders, academic professionals, and perinatal care specialists as they share strategies for implementing risk-appropriate care and real-world success stories. There's still time to register using the link in the show notes.

SILVERS: 

Plus, if you're interested in learning about academic health partnerships, check out a new ASTHO blog. Learn how Hillsborough County, the Florida Department of Health, and the University of South Florida came together to focus on workforce development. Use the link in the show notes to read it today.

Finally, ASTHO's Carolyn Mullen and Lisa Peterson represented ASTHO at a recent ribbon cutting ceremony for a new HHS portable biocontainment unit. That unit will be used to transport patients with high-consequence infectious diseases such as ebola. You can find out more about the new unit in the show notes.

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.