Displaying items by tag: public health

RALEIGH — It is estimated there are more than 227,000 people living with viral hepatitis in North Carolina, and approximately half of people with chronic hepatitis are unaware of their infection. Long-term viral hepatitis infection raises the risk of liver cancer and end stage liver disease. Due to the high prevalence and underdiagnosis of viral hepatitis, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services recognizes May as Hepatitis Awareness Month and May 19 as Hepatitis Testing Day.

RALEIGH — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today published "Governmental Public Health: Workforce and Infrastructure Improvement in Action," a review of the public health workforce and infrastructure across North Carolina. The paper provides an overview of select programs and opportunities within the NCDHHS Division of Public Health that aim to strengthen the public health infrastructure and support workforce development while reducing disparities and advancing equity.

RALEIGH — A new meta-analysis from Johns Hopkins University shows that government-mandated lockdowns in America and Europe during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic only reduced the death rate by 0.2%, on average. Researchers concluded that lockdowns “have had little to no public health effects” while imposing “enormous economic and social costs” and should be “rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.”

RALEIGH – North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy K. Cohen, M.D. has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine for her work in creating a strategic alignment to bring about critical improvements in health.

ROCKINGHAM — Tommy Jarrell didn’t know much about public health when he applied for the Richmond County health director position in 1991 — a job he has held since, and will until May 27.

RALEIGH — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has extended essential flexibilities for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) to ensure participants continue to receive the food and health support they need throughout the COVID-19 national public health emergency.

RALEIGH — Health officials with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services are urging North Carolina residents to protect themselves, their families and those around them by getting vaccinated against Influenza as the state enters flu season amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

RALEIGH— N.C. bar owners are planning another rally Thursday, Sept. 10, as part of a months-long effort to persuade Gov. Roy Cooper to reopen bars.

RALEIGH — Gov. Roy Cooper contends a lawsuit challenging his COVID-19 executive orders stands “no chance of success.” That statement crops up in the first paragraph of Cooper’s official response to the lawsuit from Lt. Gov. Dan Forest.

RALEIGH —The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is joining the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration in alerting consumers of adverse health effects associated with methanol-contaminated hand sanitizers.