538: One Health Simplified, Shutdown Potential

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Friday, November 3, 2023. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

KAREN SMITH: 

One Health hasn't really been part of the conversation in public health for very long.

JOHNSON: 

California's former public health officer Dr. Karen Smith, talking about the connections between the health of people, animals, and the environment, and the practice that predates the One Health brand.

SMITH: 

I think that at the state level, we have been doing what is functionally One Health for a long time. And that is working with colleagues across the state government, not just within the health programs, but also within environmental programs. So environmental health,

JOHNSON: 

Smith, an ASTHO alum says agencies not yet engaged in one health approaches can start the process with a simple outreach.

SMITH: 

It's not hard to figure out who are the departments that you should be reaching out to find out who your counterpart is. Have a conversation, try to have regular conversations.

JOHNSON: 

Smith adds it's risky to ignore the connections between living things and the environment.

SMITH: 

Even leaving aside sort of the scary monster of pandemics or other sorts of emergencies, the climate is continuing to change. That is going to have profound impacts, not just on agriculture, not just on animals, but also on humans. If we aren't looking at the whole picture, we may be designing things to sort of prepare for climate change, that aren't taking into account those other areas that are being impacted.

JOHNSON: 

Today is One Health Day. The CDC has a website with graphics and other materials you can use to raise awareness about these important connections. There's a link in the show notes. You also can hear more of the conversation with Dr. Smith and others on a new episode of the Public Health Review podcast that's coming soon everywhere you stream audio.

Also, ASTHO members are taking a One Health approach to address environmental health concerns in their states. Find out how Idaho and New Jersey tackled these problems in two new reports. Now available on the ASTHO website. There's a link in the show notes.

It's hard to believe another federal budget deadline is almost here, but November 17 is right around the corner. The ASTHO government affairs team is tracking progress toward a budget solution on Capitol Hill. Jeffrey E. Ekoma is here now to tell us more in this week's View from Washington, DC report.

JOHNSON: 

Jeffrey Ekoma. Always good to have you here on the newscast with another View from Washington, DC report. You know, it's November, and we're excited about that in many ways. But also, we have this little thing called a November 17th shutdown deadline. Where does that stand? How is that looking right now?

JEFFREY EKOMA: 

Yet, things are definitely moving forward. There really no current updates to report as of now. But there's still a lot of interest in passing appropriation bills and regular order. Um, the new Speaker of the House Speaker Johnson has floated the possible need of another continuing resolution that would maybe expire in mid-January or mid-April, to allow for additional time to consider all appropriation bills on the floor. So, that's something that will just continue to track very closely in the next couple of weeks.

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

I suppose that would be better than a shutdown for sure.

EKOMA: 

Oh, absolutely.

JOHNSON: 

You talked about appropriations bills, and some of them are now starting to move because we have a speaker of the house, but dot dot dot fill in the blanks.

EKOMA: 

Absolutely. I mean, we're we're closely monitoring you know, possible floor action on the Labor HHS Education appropriation bills, which runs many public health programs. The bill was previously marked up in the house by the Labor HHS subcommittee in mid-April, and Speaker Johnson has expressed his interest in discharging the legislation from the committee for consideration on the House floor the week of November 13. Now, the Senate has not announced when it plans to consider its bill on the floor. However, it did advance out of the Appropriations Committee at the end of July. It's important to note that the house is proposing deep cuts to public health programs and things such as environmental health, global health, and chronic disease to name a few. We know that the proposed cuts are not going to land well in the Senate, but it's something that you know, like always, we'll continue to track and let our members know how it impacts them.

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

Another bill you are continuing to track is PAHPA. Every time we have you on the newscast, you give us an update there. Tell us about the status of PAHPA right now.

EKOMA: 

PAHPA, PAHPA, PAHPA. I haven't gone anywhere, and we've done a lot to work on PAHPA this year, they're really proud about. Now, we continue to have discussions with committee staff on PAHPA and its prospects, considering other priorities before Congress. Overall, we remain optimistic that many of the programs and activities included in PAHPA will be reauthorized, and the priorities that we have also expressed to committee staff will also be addressed. There was some really positive discussions that occurred back in August, and we're really hoping that they will continue as part of current discussions around funding the government passed around the 17th and also around other must-pass legislation that PAHPA may be able to hitch a ride on.

JOHNSON: 

We'll keep an eye on that deadline and I'm sure that we'll talk to either you or Carolyn Mullen before that. In the meantime, we hope you have a great weekend.

EKOMA: 

You too, talk soon.

JOHNSON: 

Finally, this morning, Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine talks about the health impacts of climate change in an article written by WAMC Northeast Public Radio. His comments are taken from an online news conference he and other ASTHO members held with reporters late last month. You can read the story and hear our coverage using the links 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 Monday 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 weekend.