The Problem: Widespread vaccine coverage for preventable disease is an essential public health goal Healthy People 2020 Low vaccine coverage rates enable otherwise avoidable outbreaks of harmful diseases. CDC: Vaccines and Immunizations. Clinicians tend to acute and chronic conditions before preventive considerations, resulting in lack of time for vaccinations.
This project comprises four legal maps, each featuring laws in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, and Switzerland, capturing a detailed view of the implementation of Article 2 of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) IHR(2005), to prevent, protect against, control, and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease. The IHR(2005) is a binding instrument of international law for 194 WHO member states aimed at preventing, protecting, controlling, and responding to the international spread of disease.
A pandemic due to a rapidly transmissible infectious agent has always been a major threat to humanity, and recent outbreaks of Ebola and Zika have heightened interest in ensuring that governments are prepared to respond to this threat. Governance – the assignment of authority and the specification of procedures – is a central pillar of effective pandemic management. Without sound rules in place, ad hoc measures risk being ineffective or unjust, failing to respect human rights and worsening the impact of an outbreak.
This study finds that foodborne illness rates decreased by 22 percent after implementation of the paid sick leave law in jurisdictions with laws more supportive of employees taking leave, but increased in jurisdictions with laws that are less supportive.
This study reviewed changes to laws permitting ‘syringe exchanges’ and the provision of public funding for such programs, and finds that most of the changes in law occurred during the 1990s, five to 10 years later than in many other countries.
University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Center for Public Health Practice
Chyongchiou Jeng Lin, PhD •
University of Pittsburgh
The study, published in the Journal of the National Medical Association, examines the relationship between state laws regulating flu vaccines for health care workers and the state-level immunization rates among health care workers between 2001-2011. Laws mandating flu vaccines for health care workers increase their vaccination rates, according to a new study.
Tracking of infectious diseases is a public health core function essential to disease prevention and control. Each state mandates reporting of certain infectious diseases to public health authorities. These laws vary by state, and the variation could affect the ability to collect critical information.
The 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic served as a case study to examine the legal authority in the 50 states; Washington, DC; and New York City for mandatory infectious disease reporting, particularly for influenza and new or emerging infectious diseases.
This LawAtlas map offers details on whether a state has laws requiring access to free STD treatment services. It also includes whether the law prohibits a patient from being billed or whether a third party may be billed.
