November 14, 2023
The Community Health Corner
Submitted by Stephanie Gutierrez
The National Extension Framework for Health Equity and Well-being recommends using community development strategies and health literacy programs to ensure that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. The following resources help us improve well-being for all, and achieve Healthy Kansas 2030 and Healthy People 2030 objectives.
Tobacco Product Use Among U.S. Middle and High School Students: The latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) examines tobacco product use among U.S. middle and high school students. The report found that 10 percent of middle and high school students reported current tobacco product use. From 2022 to 2023, current e-cigarette use among high school students declined from 14.1 percent to 10 percent. E-cigarettes remained the most commonly used tobacco product among youths. Among middle school and high school students who currently use e-cigarettes, 25.2 percent used e-cigarettes daily, and 89.4 percent used flavored e-cigarettes.
WIC Participation: A new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service found that an average of 12.13 million moms, babies, and young children were eligible for WIC in 2021. However, only 51%, or 6.21 million, of those who were eligible actually participated. A number of new findings are included in this year’s report: coverage rates by urban and poverty status; participation rates by state, race, and ethnicity; state estimates by WIC participation category, race, and ethnicity; and nonparticipation rates among Medicaid and SNAP participants.
Climate-Related Health Hazards: The Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE) has released its November 2023 Climate and Health Outlook. This edition explores the climate-related health hazards of heat, wildfire, drought, and hurricanes and provides information on how to reduce health risks associated with each. It also features findings from a survey of Californians on their health impacts from climate change, an overview of why wildfire smoke is a public health concern, and a feature on alpha-gal syndrome. You can now also visit an associated portal to interact with maps of county-level data on these climate hazards and individual-level risk factors for health impacts.
For more information, contact Elaine Johannes, ejohanne@ksu.edu; and Stephanie Gutierrez, smgutier@k-state.edu.