Chronic Disease

California health officials are noticing a big jump in babies born with congenital syphilis and the Central Valley is at the top of the list. As FM89’s Diana Aguilera reports, state and county health leaders met in Fresno Wednesday to discuss the alarming trend.

There has been a lot of rhetoric about the value of community health workers, but such programs don't always work as well as they could. Some basic guidelines could go a long way toward ensuring such workers contribute to the health of patients, particularly those with chronic diseases.

Jenna Chandler is a health reporter at the Orange County Register, where she has also covered breaking news, education and transportation. This story was produced as a project for The California Health Journalism Fellowship, a program of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism....

“Sometimes I think I’m just about to fall asleep,” said Juana Garcia, a mother with five children, two chronic diseases, one waterless home and zero income. “But then I start thinking, what am I going to do about water? Will I last much longer here? Yes, mentally I get very stressed out.”

For three months this year, I spent time with some of the sickest, most expensive patients in America — the so-called "super-utilizers." During that time, I’ve learned about the great promise of programs to help such patients, and why innovations that both improve health and save money are so rare.

African American men in North Carolina suffer from some of the world’s highest rates of prostate cancer, but it's not exactly clear why. That tip was enough to launch News & Observer reporter Jay Price on a long reporting journey that would take him to churches, barber shops and community meetings.

A new study on tuberculosis in wake of the devastating 2010 Haitian earthquake offers a number of health policy lessons that hold true far beyond the tiny island nation. The country's robust approach to HIV testing is one of them.

Air pollution from industrial sources in Michigan’s Wayne County is linked to deaths and life-threatening respiratory diseases, reports Michigan journalist Natasha Dado. She argues there's an urgent need for more watchdog reporting to give voice to pollution's often-overlooked victims.

In Maine, one in three children are overweight, and about half of poor children ages 10 to 17 are obese. Programs such as "Let's Go!" have tried to combat the trends by spreading messages of healthy eating and exercise, but widespread problems persist. Why the impasse?

Health care's "super-utilizers" are very much in the news these days, as policymakers seek ways to curb spending. But programs that deliver durable results that save money are scarce, in part because many 'frequent fliers' suffer from an incredibly complex web of issues, often tied to early trauma.