Family-friendly workplace policies can have unintended consequences for women; building owner charged with murder in collapse of garment factory in Bangladesh; new standing recommendations proposed for office workers; and a famous food journalist calls for improved working conditions for food workers.
Affordable Care Act
Study: Poor eye health prevalent across the U.S. South, where poverty and vision loss often go together
Another day, another study that finds poverty is linked to adverse and often preventable health outcomes. This time, it’s vision loss.
For more than a decade, biologist Mariam Barlow has been working on the theory that administering antibiotics on a rotating basis could be a solution to antibiotic resistance. After years of research, Barlow had lots of data, but she needed a more precise way to make sense of it all — something that was so specific it could easily be used to treat patients. So, she joined forces with a team of mathematicians. And the amazing results could help solve an enormous, worldwide problem.
Education
Chicago organizers take on domestic worker health and safety: ‘We start with the idea that everyone deserves dignity and respect’
After 18 years as a professional house cleaner in the suburbs of Chicago, Magdalena Zylinska says she feels very lucky. Unlike many of her fellow domestic workers, she hasn’t sustained any serious injuries.
Recent pieces address the American Chemistry Council and flame retardants; the avian flu that’s hitting Midwestern poultry farms; what the next labor fight will tackle; and more.
Food Safety & Nutrition
Researchers find food assistance program is linked with better mental health
Do food assistance programs deliver more than food and nutrition? Can relieving the stress of food insecurity provide positive psychological benefits as well? A new study says yes it can.
Injured workers testify before Illinois lawmakers on preserving the workers’ comp system; OSHA fines DuPont for failing to prevent the deaths of four workers; journalists arrested in Qatar while trying to investigate migrant working conditions; and a new report finds that service members who report sexual assault are likely to face retaliation.
Affordable Care Act
HPV vaccine study highlights how health reform is driving patients toward prevention
In a perfect example of how the Affordable Care Act is broadening access to relatively low-cost and potentially life-saving interventions, a new study finds that the health reform law likely led more than 1 million young women to seek out the human papillomavirus vaccine and protect themselves against cervical cancer.
More than $30 million in Arkansas, $25.8 million in Kentucky, $105.5 million in Washington and $180 million in Michigan. That’s how much money just four states during just one fiscal year saved under their newly expanded Medicaid programs.
California
Study: Cuts to Medicaid dental benefits led to increased emergency room use in California
Just another example of how cuts to health care funding simply shift the costs and endanger people’s health. This time it’s a study on the impact of eliminating adult dental coverage within the California Medicaid program. Not surprisingly, the cut resulted in a significant and immediate rise in people seeking help in hospital emergency departments.