Deep cuts erode the foundations of US public health system, end progress, threaten worse to come
https://apnews.com/article/public-health-measles-rfk-maha-trump-d863f53a5d370413de8d165d5ab96e65
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Nationwide Consequences, Rural Devastation: The Unequal Toll of Public Health Spending Reductions
https://read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/article/51/2/309/403379/Nationwide-Consequences-Rural-Devastation-The
What Might a Diminished Safety Net Look Like?
Major areas of public health activity include environmental health, communicable and chronic disease control, maternal and child health, behavioral health, injury prevention, emergency preparedness and response, and assessment. The impacts of decreased federal support are vast and likely to include:
- ■ Diminished health department capacity to perform many critical public health functions, such as food and restaurant inspections, agricultural inspections in collaboration with departments of agriculture, mine safety operations, water quality and lead remediation, and protective inspections of childcare centers, tattoo parlors, and other businesses that regularly interact with the health of the public.
- ■ Decreased HIV support. This will likely translate to more HIV cases, worse health outcomes, preventable deaths, and increased transmission of HIV from mothers to babies.
- ■ Reduction of the Vaccines for Children initiative. This means more children will likely get sick from vaccine-preventable diseases, and some will die. That burden will not be distributed equally in society, with poorer and more rural children being disproportionately impacted.
- ■ Reductions in chronic disease control. This translates to less support for reducing childhood obesity, monitoring and preventing cardiac disease, nutrition services, and behavioral health service provision.
- ■ Less behavioral health prevention. This will result in more overdoses and less availability of Narcan, which has been critical in turning the tide of substance abuse deaths in the past five years.
- ■ Diminished support for emergency preparedness. When disasters happen, communities will not be sufficiently prepared and protected. There will be fewer staff to scale up and less technical expertise to work with hospitals and other health care providers. Local communities might be left holding the bill for natural disasters and other emergencies that may be very hard to pay for.
