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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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Toolkit
The Framework for an Equitable COVID-19 Homelessness Response offers guidance on utilizing funding sources like the CARES Act to address homelessness during the pandemic. It aims to conduct emergency measures while planning for recovery. The framework emphasizes racial justice and requires coordination among partners and systems. It is regularly updated and provides tools and resources. For individuals experiencing homelessness, local 2-1-1 hotlines can provide assistance.
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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Peer Review Study
This article discusses the challenges of contact tracing among people experiencing homelessness. It suggests combining the traditional person-based approaches to contact tracing with location-based contact tracing approaches when conducting investigations among unhoused individuals. Location-based approaches collect data on the places people have visited in the past 48 hours, rather than the individuals with whom they interacted. Facility-wide testing and resources can be provided in locations where someone accessed support services.
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.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This article identifies levels of vaccine hesitancy and acceptance among people experiencing homelessness. It gives public health practitioners information on ways to address the relatively higher levels of hesitancy among this population and encourages logistical barriers such as transportation to be addressed as part of a larger strategy.
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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Summary Report/Recommendations
This report offers recommendations for the care of pregnant women and children following the COVID-19 pandemic. It analyzes health impacts on pregnant women and young children, including those related to health care and childcare, using a socioecological approach. Recommendations include expanding reimbursement and telemedicine access, making childcare accessible and affordable, and integrating equity considerations into data collection and research.
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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Summary Report/Recommendations
This article describes the implementation of telemental health services within the Veterans Health Administration before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article identifies strategies the VHA has used to reach hard to reach populations, including unhoused veterans and veterans living in rural communities, and outlines future goals to improve and expand access to telemental health services.
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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Case Study, Peer Review Study
Practice strategy involves including unhoused peer ambassadors in outreach plans to encourage vaccination against Covid-19 in homeless encampments/shelters. Peer ambassadors were found to be effective in promoting vaccination among their peers. However, some concerns existed around the ethics of exploiting the trust unhoused PAs had with their communities, as well as apathy and frustration towards the academic and bureaucratic nature of the research study.
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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Case Study, Key Informant Interview
This case study discusses how Hawaii’s Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) partnered with state housing services to organize isolation and quarantine services for people experiencing homelessness. This department also focused on substance use disorder and mental illness, so they worked to build partnerships with treatment centers that individuals could enter after quarantine. The BHA has also focused on braiding funding sources between substance use disorder and homelessness efforts to provide more wraparound services and combat the siloization of different departments.
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.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This paper analyzes the policy components that contribute to the programmatic success of flu and Tdap pregnancy vaccine programs in three high-income countries, including the United States. Key pillars to increased vaccination coverage include Health Authority accountability, facilitated patient access to vaccination, healthcare professional accountability and engagement, awareness of the burden and severity of diseases, and finally, belief in the benefits of pregnancy vaccination. In the US, given the higher diversity of stakeholders, a multi-stakeholder approach with calls to action from the CDC and endorsement from other scientific societies were key to uptake of vaccinations in pregnancy. It is recommended that maternal task forces reinforce these messages, disseminate toolkits, and that partners address barriers that stand in the way of vaccination, including ensuring that vaccination clinics are convenient for pregnant woman. Successful programs do not require implementation of all components; instead, public health experts should use these as components as guiding tools that can be refined depending on the specificities of the healthcare system in place.
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.
RELEASE DATE:
Case Study
This paper describes how a local public health agency joined a multi-sector community partnership made up of community-based organizations, clinical providers, and peer navigators and others with lived experience of homelessness. Together, this group created a strategic plan to lessen the impact of COVID-19 on people experiencing homelessness. They prioritized education, increased resource allocation and testing in shelters, and slated housing for those who tested positive or those at increased risk of COVID complications. Most of this work took place in shelters.
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.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study, Summary Report/Recommendations
The guidance outlined in this report provides a roadmap for the ethical inclusion of pregnant women’s experiences in in the development and deployment of vaccines against emerging viruses. Recommendations include bolstering health information surveillance systems, stakeholder engagement with health care, women, families and communities, and changing the narrative about pregnancy and clinical research efforts. Recommendations require commitment of financial resources, addressing inequities in public health and whenever possible, the inclusion of perspectives of pregnant women. Lastly, the authors recommend that “When there is a limited supply of vaccine against a pathogenic threat that disproportionately affects pregnant women, their offspring, or both, or when only one vaccine among several is appropriate for use in pregnancy, then pregnant women should be among the priority groups to be offered the vaccine.” This prioritization process is key to addressing inequities and are guidance for future pandemic response efforts.