In this Critical Opportunities presentation Michelle Mello, JD, PhD, makes the case that raising the tobacco purchasing age to 21 would aid in reducing minors' tobacco use by 50 percent, which would prevent 10 million people from becoming daily smokers and avoid 3 million premature deaths.
Soraya Ghebleh suggests that by making non-medical exemptions for childhood vaccines more difficult to obtain, rates of childhood diseases like pertussis would be less of a threat.
In this Critical Opportunity, Tamar Klaiman, PhD, MPH, suggests that providers should be required to offer pertussis vaccination prior to new parents leaving the hospital/birth center with a newborn.
Legally requiring all public health departments to be accredited would improve their performance and accountability while promoting community collaboration, according to this Critical Opportunities presentation by Georgia Heise, DrPH, Public Health Director of the Three Rivers District Health Department.
Congenital heart defects cause nearly one-quarter of deaths due to birth defects in infants. Nearly 5,000 babies are born each year with seven specific Critical Congenital Heart Defects or Critical Congenital Heart Disease (CCHD). There is a low-cost, non-invasive screening procedure, called pulse oximetry, that is effective in detecting CCHD. By making this screening mandatory, CCHD could be detected early and follow-ups could be done to improve health.
Adoption of a model statute could help strengthen injury prevention explains Mel Kohn MD MPH, Public Health Director, Oregon Health Authority, in his Critical Opportunities presentation.
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