The effect of squalid housing on people’s health is difficult to determine in California's Sonoma County, since there is no study, stockpile of data or government agency that tracks illness in connection with living environments.
When it comes to lowering high infant mortality rates, Rwanda has become an encouraging if unexpected example of what can be done with "big data made small."
The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Brie Zeltner and Rachel Dissel are putting the issue of lead poisoning in children back on the map, publishing a deeply reported series of stories on the issue this week. The ambitious project is worth a closer look.
Alaska has the nation’s highest rate of people living without plumbing, and that can translate into real health problems for rural families. Despite the problem, state officials have declined to make the larger investments needed to improve conditions for the state's more remote residents.
Even rural Alaskan communities that have raised the money to build modern sanitation systems face the threat of their ultimate failure due to the lack of funding for operations and maintenance, wiping away whatever health gains were achieved.
Death and birth records are crucial to public health and health reporting. They can help verify causes of death, point you to family members, or allow you to track larger public health trends. Here's how to start using them for your stories, if you aren't already.
One of the silver linings of the ongoing measles outbreak has been the attention it's placed on the controversial practice of vaccine exemptions. Smart, surprising coverage of Mississippi's tough policy on these exemptions shows why they matter, and how states differ.
A debate over the social and health costs of legal gambling has largely been sidelined even as availability has expanded dramatically in the last 25 years. This is not because of a lack of merit, say experts and activists, but because of the political power of the gambling industry. They allege that
Two California gun buyback programs try crowdsourcing to fund their operations. Does getting firearms off the street in this manner really reduce gun violence?
What would you do if you were picking out vegetables at the grocery story next to a health care worker in scrubs and blood-stained shoe covers?
