News & Insights

As we enter the third year of COVID-19, we are seeing the transition from a pandemic to an endemic. With this shift comes the staged termination of public health emergency measures used to respond to COVID-19 and its variants. Unknown is how our existing legal framework will bring about the end of the pandemic measures consistent with appropriate oversight by legislative and executive branches. New Mexico provides one example of what this transition might look like.

Cultural Broker programs provide culturally relevant, community-based, accessible, preventive health care that is crucial to reducing health disparities and decreasing costs. However, legal frameworks and reimbursement models often fail to capture the essence of community-oriented preventive models of care.

Barring a new COVID surge, all indications are that the Biden Administration will declare an end to the COVID public health emergency (PHE) sometime this year. Over the course of the pandemic, a PHE has been declared and extended at 90-day intervals. Unwinding of the PHE will be a critical event for Medicaid stakeholders.

Financial disparities exist in a multitude of areas including home ownership, credit scores, and access to banking services; and are linked to health disparities in maternal and child health, mental health, and substance use disorders. Community organizations can play a role in reducing these disparities by providing financial education and planning, increasing access to banking services, and providing help for those who find themselves in the grip of predatory lenders and payday loans.

Financial disparities exist in a multitude of areas including home ownership, credit scores, and access to banking services; and are linked to health disparities in maternal and child health, mental health, and substance use disorders. Community organizations can play a role in reducing these disparities by providing financial education and planning, increasing access to banking services, and providing help for those who find themselves in the grip of predatory lenders and payday loans.

The Network for Public Health Law (Network) today announced that its National Director, Donna E. Levin, is retiring July 1 after a remarkable career which spanned 44 years in public health law, eight of those at the Network. Donna will be integral to guiding the leadership transition process for the Network over the next four months.

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.