The outcome of the upcoming presidential election between Vice President Harris and former President Trump will have a strong impact on the lives of many Americans. During election season, public health is always on the ballot. We have asked our experts in topics such as abortion, drug policy, preemption, and employment law to share what they're watching for, the outcomes or changes they hope to see after the election, and possible impacts on the policy landscape surrounding these public health issues.
Leslie Hoglund, PhD, Clinical Assistant Professor in the School of Community & Environmental Health at Old Dominion University, recently worked with legislators and colleagues in Virginia to pass SB 192, which amended and expanded qualification requirements for local health directors, redesigning a restrictive policy that left nearly one-quarter of districts without permanent leadership. We spoke with Dr. Hoglund to learn more about how this transpired, any lessons learned in advocacy and policy support, and what’s next.
Shane Reader from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health, recently published research in Drug and Alcohol Dependence that reveals patterns in implementation, facilitates future evaluations, and produces a roadmap for the dimension reduction of further policy surveillance datasets related to harm reduction and drug use.
COVID-19 called for quick, decisive action by public health authorities to support communities and prevent infections. Since the pandemic began, legislators around the country have been acting to change the way authorities may respond to future public health emergencies — expanding or limiting officials’ authority to act in an emergency, changing who has authority to act, and the actions they may have the authority to take.
