News & Insights

A competent and diverse public health law workforce is essential to accomplishing health equity goals. Yet the public health law field—like the public health field generally—has struggled to create and maintain a robust and racially diverse workforce. Several barriers to entering the field, such as financial impediments, historic and persistent racial disparities that create a lack of mentorship for young attorneys of color, and a dearth of full-time, accessible job opportunities, may hint at possible approaches to expanding and strengthening the public health law workforce for the future.

Early on in the pandemic, as the inequitable COVID-19 health outcomes experienced by Black, Hispanic, Latino and Latina, and Indigenous communities were becoming more pronounced, many state and local governments created task forces to address the disproportionate burden of COVID-19 on communities of color and other marginalized populations. The Network analyzed the composition and role of these task forces, the legal mechanisms establishing them, common categories of task force recommendations and top policy recommendations, and opportunities for task forces to translate recommendations into actions that advance health equity.

Arnold Ventures has renewed funding support for the Network for Public Health Law’s Harm Reduction Legal Project, which works to address the legal and policy barriers that impede the establishment and expansion of evidence-based harm reduction measures such as naloxone distribution, syringe access programs, and access to evidence-based substance use disorder treatment.

Isolation measures taken in response to the pandemic necessitated a transition to virtual platforms for work, learning, and social activities for most Americans. While for some this transition created challenges like Zoom fatigue and less social time, for those unable to attend in-person gatherings due to disability or distance, these virtual platforms meant more opportunities for socializing and participation. The result has been a number of law and policy changes that have enhanced accessibility and equity for all people residing in the United States.

Despite state efforts, disparities in access to the life-saving overdose reversal drug naloxone are widespread.  People of color and those experiencing homelessness face numerous barriers to obtaining naloxone, which is especially concerning given that from 2018 to 2019, overdose deaths for non-Hispanic Black individuals increased 40 percent, while deaths remained stable among individuals of other races and ethnicities. One innovative way to improve access is through the use of naloxone vending machines, an approach currently in use in a number of prisons and jails. 

It’s a cornerstone of public health law that public health laws should be grounded in evidence and expertise. That principle has not always been honored during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though additional research is needed, there is a growing body of evidence that demonstrates that public health interventions backed by law are associated with improved health outcomes.

Nearly 43 million Americans owe a combined $1.57 trillion in federal student loan debt, with Black borrowers holding 186 percent more debt per capita than White borrowers. Poor health outcomes, including high blood pressure and high rates of anxiety and depression, are associated with accumulating student loan debt. In response to the economic burdens of the pandemic, the Biden administration has paused student loan payment requirements several times, yet failure to address the debilitating effects of student loan debt has many calling on lawmakers to undertake education reform, including “forgiving” student loan debt.

Some of the public health law and policy issues in the headlines in recent weeks include California’s new law requiring mental health courses be taught in schools, the challenges schools face in remaining open during the omicron surge, the addition of a common chemical to the FDAs list of hazardous chemicals, Medicaid expansion on the ballot in South Dakota, and libraries’ efforts to meet the growing social service needs of their patrons. 

The Network's Southeastern Region Director Dawn Hunter submitted a response on January 10 to the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Solicitation of Written Comments on Proposed Healthy People 2030 Objectives and Request for Information on the Relationship Between Voter Participation and Health. Read the response here. The Healthy People initiative serves as key guidance to health departments and their partners in developing a robust and comprehensive agenda that improves public health and health equity in the communities they serve.

Implicit bias is when we have attitudes towards people or associate stereotypes with them without our conscious knowledge. Implicit bias is unintentional and automatic, but it affects how we process information, make decisions, and act. With respect to public health law, we must be cognizant of the myriad ways in which implicit bias can manifest at every stage from program development and enactment to enforcement issues.  

In 2010, the same year that the Network launched, the ACA was enacted and the nation took a critical step toward improving access to health care. Now, ten years later and in the wake of the pandemic, we know there is still much to be done and that we must build not only on the advances made by the ACA, but strategize and argue for systemic change on multiple levels.

Voting is a way to shape the policies that impact how we live our lives – where we can afford to live, whether our neighborhoods are safe, the quality of the school system we send our children to, whether we are paid a living wage, how tax dollars are invested in our communities, and so much more. When a group of people is systematically prevented from fully engaging in the democratic process, the end result is a system that does not reflect the diversity of the peoples and perspectives it serves. Health equity can be advanced by removing barriers to participation in the electoral process, and that starts with acknowledging that those barriers exist. Declarations of racism as a public health crisis are one way to do just that.