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Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
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Other
The article discusses the challenges and frustrations surrounding Long COVID research in the United States. Despite substantial investments and numerous research efforts, progress in understanding and treating Long COVID has been slow and disappointing. Experts and patient advocates have criticized the research community for its focus on disease development rather than direct patient care, duplication of studies, and a lack of clinical trials. The authors propose a new hypothesis that Long COVID may be a form of post-infectious syndrome or chronic fatigue syndrome, suggesting that traditional biomedical research approaches may not yield meaningful results. Instead, they advocate for a shift towards health services research and measures that directly impact patients’ welfare, including prevention, improved prognosis, access to empathetic care, and quality of life issues. They emphasize the need for collaboration between researchers, patients, and advocacy groups to reset the research agenda effectively.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
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White Paper/Brief
Director of the Health Equity Core at Harvard Medical School, Professor Sprague Martinez has organized a team of partners to identify the impact of long COVID on Black and Latinx communities in Massachusetts and barriers they experience in accessing treatment. The project is part of the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness, which aims to address the challenges of COVID-19 and future pandemics. The Health Equity Core focuses on understanding the impact of long COVID on diverse communities, increasing access to treatment and resources, and influencing relevant policies. The team includes partners from various institutions and will emphasize community engagement, data collection, dissemination, and policy advocacy efforts.
Best Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes when implemented in multiple real-life settings, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities.
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Peer Review Study
This article examines growth rates of confirmed COVID-19 cases and mortalities over a 30-day period of the COVID-19 outbreak for each of the 100 largest U.S. cities to determine how racial residential segregation and income inequality contributed to health disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data shows the growth curve for cases and mortality rates increases significantly in metropolitan areas where Black and Hispanic people are residentially segregated from White people. The article offers policy implications for making virus-resilient cities that are also health equitable.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
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White Paper/Brief
This resource discusses public transportation as a strategy to reduce healthy inequity. This policy brief details how public transportation options can improve health and health equity by reducing traffic crashes and air pollution, increasing physical activity, and improving access to medical care, healthy food, vital services, employment, and social connection. The brief explains how public transportation is funded, a few interventions that align transportation and public health goals, as well as guidance for future work.
Promising Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities, and are suitable for adaptation by other communities.
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Summary Report/Recommendations
This article compared community health workers (CHWs) in Indiana and Texas based on the results of two research studies in order to 1) investigate the unique role of CHWs and their Spanish-speaking counterparts, promotores de salud, in rural communities and 2) understand how their advocacy efforts represent a central form of caregiving. An analysis was done of how CHWs connect structurally vulnerable clients in rural areas to resources, health education, and health and social services. CHWs and promotores de salud have acted as first responders to the needs of marginalized rural populations, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to health education and translation work, CHWs also play an important role in advocacy, bridging the gap between clients and community leaders. While informing clients of available resources, they empower the clients to advocate for their own needs in different settings. CHWs also have the ability to engage with stakeholders and policy makers in better addressing client needs.
Novel Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and are in the process of generating evidence of effectiveness or may not yet be tested.
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Case Study
This case study describes a secondary purpose of Chicago’s Racial Equity Rapid Response Team, which is to improve health outcomes among communities that have been most heavily impacted. The work has included campaigns, town halls, prevention programs, city testing sites, and securing grant funding.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
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White Paper/Brief
This paper serves as a foundational look into how structural racism and social determinants of health impact communities of color — particularly Black and Latino communities — in Massachusetts. This document uses local Massachusetts and national data sources to examine multiple factors for health inequities among racial minorities within the state. The primer covers demographic profiles, social drivers of health, access to coverage and care, service utilization, health outcomes, and the disparate impact of COVID-19 with infographics across multiple areas of health.