Thousands of babies are born every year in Bexar County, Texas, to mothers who receive no prenatal care. Those women are more likely to give birth prematurely, increasing the odds that their newborns will develop immediate and long-lasting health problems that can be both costly and fatal.
Take a Saturday morning bike ride along the Kansas side of the state line and you’ll see plenty of people playing tennis, soccer and jogging in Johnson County. Ride a bit farther north to Wyandotte County, though, and it’s clear that outdoor recreation is a much rarer phenomenon.
Johnson County’s high income and education levels are typically associated with health-promoting activities like exercise, preventive care and nutritious diets. But alcohol abuse is another aspect of life in the county, often tucked away from view.
At his lowest point in prison, Simeon U‘u, a broad-shouldered man with tattoos down one arm and a thick silver chain around his neck, doubted he would get his children back. “I felt like I was a bad parent, that I abandoned them.”
In Johnson County, for every 1,000 infants born in recent years, fewer than five don’t make it to their first birthday. In Wyandotte County, the number is closer to eight.
For years, the percentage of Native Hawaiians in the state’s foster care system has significantly exceeded their share of the overall population of the state’s children. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser delves into the underlying causes and potential solutions to the problem.
KCRW reporter Avishay Artsy set out to report on ethnic disparities in cancer outcomes. After originally planning on covering three groups, he found he was able to tell more compelling stories by narrowing his focus to African-Americans and colon cancer.
As any ER doc can tell you, alcohol can lead to all kinds of horrible and entirely preventable health effects. So why not jump on the "dry January" trend? As Dr. Monya De writes, drinkers who do so are more likely to use less alcohol going forward.
At her home studio in Westwood, Kansas, instructor Marilyn Pace leads a class of 5-to-8-year olds through yoga positions. But just six blocks from the yoga studio — where Wyandotte County begins — the picture of health is quite different.
Dr. Seema Yasmin’s reported this story as a National Health Journalism Fellow at the University of Southern California’s Center for Health Journalism.
