EDUCAIDS, the Global Initiative on Education and HIV & AIDS, is a multi-country initiative to support the implementation of comprehensive national education sector responses to the AIDS epidemic. This publication identifies how the educational sector can respond to HIV/AIDS and examines operational issues for EDUCAIDS at the country, regional and…

Understanding the health literacy of America's adults is important because so many aspects of finding health care and health information, and maintaining health, depend on understanding written information. Many reports have suggested that low health literacy is associated with poor communication between patients and health care providers and with…

The youth development approach has gained traction over the past twenty-plus years, across a range of youth-serving fields, including public health. While it is important for Adolescent Health Coordinators, other practitioners and policy makers focused on youth to be familiar with youth development concepts, it is critically important that they…

Holding the premise that the development of expertise is a continuous process, this study concerns expert models and modeling processes associated with a modeling tool called Model-It. Five advanced Ph.D. students in environmental engineering and public health used Model-It to create and test models of water quality. Using "think aloud" technique…

Objective: This study examined African American college students' perceptions of psychosocial factors that influence racial disparities in health. Methods: We conducted focus groups in two Alabama Black Belt Counties from June to August 2005. Data were collected using a standardized discussion guide, augmented by prompts for clarification.…

Recently published research can be paired with engaging activities to keep students informed about the rapidly changing world of science. "Environmental Health Perspectives" (EHP), a peer-reviewed environmental health research journal (published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health),…

Newborn screening is considered a highly successful public health program that has resulted in the reduction of mortality, mental retardation, and other serious disabilities in thousands of children since the introduction of screening for phenylketonuria (PKU) in the 1960s. Programs are based in state public health departments such that each state…

Although rates of childhood obesity among the general population are alarmingly high, they are higher still in ethnic minority and low-income communities. The disparities pose a major challenge for policymakers and practitioners planning strategies for obesity prevention. In this article Shiriki Kumanyika and Sonya Grier summarize differences in…

With American children on course to grow into the most obese generation of adults in history, Sonia Caprio argues that it is critical to develop more effective strategies for preventing childhood obesity and treating serious obesity-related health complications. She notes that although pediatricians are concerned about the obesity problem, most…

Although HIV prevention researchers have conducted numerous controlled outcome studies to evaluate the effectiveness of theory-based interventions aimed at reducing HIV risk behaviors, many HIV risk reduction interventions are conducted not by researchers but by staff in local health departments or community-based organizations (CBOs). Despite…

The Russian Federation has one of the fastest growing HIV epidemics in the world. Prevention efforts are still in the early stage, and to this date do not include a comprehensive, national HIV prevention education approach for direct application via the educational system. This study examined HIV/AIDS related knowledge of science teachers residing…

Given the unprecedented global incidence of overweight in children, the issues that potentially create and sustain a circumstance of epidemic childhood overweight, and the efforts that are underway to prevent and remediate childhood overweight need to be examined. The article explores potentially interrelated causes of obesity/overweight in…

Objective: To identify risk factors for poor child mental health in the southeastern Brazilian municipality of Taubate. Method: In 2001 we carried out a representative school-based survey of Brazilian schoolchildren ages 7 to 14 years (response rate, 83%). We collected extensive data on child mental health and on potential risk and protective…

In 1999, the American College Health Association (ACHA) Executive Committee issued a position statement for the Association that addresses acts of violence, bias, and other violations of human rights that have been occurring all too often within or adjacent to college communities. The statement called for all campus health professionals to become…

Noting that health-risk behaviors among youth may result in immediate health problems or extend into adulthood and increase risk for chronic diseases, this report examines the prevalence of health-risk behaviors among a nationally representative sample of persons aged 12 to 21 years and presents age group comparisons of the most important…