Boston, MA – Today, the Massachusetts Public Health Association (MPHA) presented awards to five health equity leaders at its 20th Anniversary Spring Awards Breakfast. The event, which was attended by more than 250 healthcare and public health leaders from around the Commonwealth, was held in the State Room at 60 State Street in Boston.
The organization’s highest honor, the Paul Revere Award for Lifetime Achievement, was given to Ashish Jha, MD, PhD, who served as the Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health until he was appointed recently by President Biden as Coordinator of the COVID-19 Response. He is recognized globally as an expert on pandemic preparedness and response as well as on domestic and global health policy.
The Catalyst for Justice Award was presented jointly to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Boston Public Health Commission Executive Director Dr. Bisola Ojikutu “for centering equity in public health policy and practice”. Together, Mayor Wu and Dr. Ojikutu have championed transparency, reliance on clear data benchmarks, and a commitment to health equity in the city’s response to COVID-19. They have also focused on achieving more equitable health outcomes by working to improve the social conditions in which Boston residents live, including access to healthy food and stable affordable housing.
Boston, MA – Today, dozens of public health leaders, elected officials, and local public health professionals gathered on the State House steps for an in-person rally, calling for the creation of a 21st-century local public health system for Massachusetts. They urged the legislature to pass the Statewide Accelerated Public Health for Every Community Act (SAPHE 2.0) in order to realize the vision laid out three years ago by the Special Commission on Local and Regional Public Health.
“Massachusetts is making exciting new investments in local public health,” said State Senator Jo Comerford. “But funding alone is not enough. We must also enact the significant policy reforms that are needed to create a truly effective local public health system.”
“Our local and regional public health system was fractured before, and the COVID public health crisis has nearly broken it,” said Representative Denise Garlick. “We have invested ARPA resources and must ensure legislative language is in place so those funds are properly used to build a truly equitable local public health system for every Massachusetts resident.”
“It has been three years since the release of the recommendations of the Special Commission on Local and Regional Public Health,” said State Representative Hannah Kane. “Working together, we have made significant progress towards addressing the issues identified by the Commission. As the Legislature’s formal session comes to a close, we need to pass SAPHE 2.0 across the finish line.”
“Investing in public health makes good economic sense,” said Eileen McAnneny, President of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “The local public health system is critical infrastructure that keeps our communities safe and our economy thriving.”
“It’s time for Massachusetts to create a 21st-century local public health system,” said Kristina Kimani, Assistant Policy Director for the Massachusetts Public Health Association. “We have the roadmap, thanks to the work of the Special Commission on Local and Regional Public Health. Now we must implement it.”
BOSTON, MA – Today, Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts (PLS) held a press conference at the Massachusetts State House in response to the Massachusetts House’s recent proposal to increase funding for the incarceration of people civilly committed for treatment of substance use disorder (SUD), under the statute known as Section 35 (M.G.L. c.123 s.35). The current budget is poised to funnel $21.9 million into the Department of Corrections’ Massachusetts Alcohol and Substance Abuse Center (MASAC) facility and $2.5 million into the Section 35 facility operated by the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, respectively.
Speakers – including public health experts and directly impacted people – urged the passage of amendments 332 and 333 by Representative Ruth Balser to redirect the money away from correctional facilities and into health care settings.
“Substance and alcohol use disorders are medical conditions that deserve prompt diagnosis and treatment,” said Dr. Todd Kerensky, President of the Massachusetts Society of Addiction Medicine. “As with all medical conditions, people should expect treatment to be grounded in the four principles of medical ethics: autonomy, do good (beneficence), do no harm (non-maleficence), and justice. We can have a reasonable debate about whether involuntary treatment is potentially helpful or harmful. However, putting people in jail to receive treatment is unjust. Having a substance or alcohol use disorder is not a crime.”
BOSTON, MA – Today, two years after a state of emergency was declared in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Massachusetts Public Health Association (MPHA) called on state leaders to rebuild and reimagine the role of public health in Massachusetts.
“The COVID-19 pandemic taught us many hard lessons. The failure to center both equity and public health expertise in the state’s response to the pandemic cost us dearly,” said Carlene Pavlos, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Public Health Association. “Now, we must commit to building a 21st-century public health system that will provide robust protections to all Massachusetts residents, regardless of income, race or zip code.”
Given that public health will be a central issue in this election cycle, MPHA will be asking gubernatorial candidates to fill out a questionnaire regarding their public health-related platforms.
BOSTON, MA – Today, the Massachusetts Public Health Association (MPHA) criticized a 33% proposed cut to local public health in Governor Baker’s fiscal year 2023 budget.
“A proposed cut to local public health in the midst of a continuing global pandemic defies both logic and common sense,” said Carlene Pavlos, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Public Health Association. “It is made all the more egregious by the fact that the administration continues to place an enormous amount of responsibility on the shoulders of local boards of health.”
The $5M cut proposed to the “Public Health Excellence Grant Program” at the Department of Public Health would negatively impact public health capacity and staffing in communities across the Commonwealth.
“MPHA will work with our legislative allies to ensure that the House and the Senate budgets include the needed resources for our local boards of health,” continued Pavlos. “As they continue their essential work to deliver vaccines, conduct tests, and enforce public health guidance, local public health workers need and deserve the support of state policymakers.” ##
BOSTON, MA – In preparation for tomorrow’s hearing by the Joint Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness Management, the Massachusetts Public Health Association (MPHA) has issued an open list of questions for Governor Charlie Baker and Secretary Marilou Sudders.
“This is an opportunity to understand the reasoning behind the administration’s failure to implement common-sense measures, including a universal mask mandate,” said MPHA Executive Director Carlene Pavlos. “We need legislators to ask tough questions as we face this overwhelming surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.”
MPHA encourages legislators and members of the media to ask the following questions:
1. Universal indoor mask wearing is a simple and effective strategy to reduce transmission. Gov. Baker, in the midst of an unprecedented COVID surge that is overwhelming our hospitals, what is preventing you from implementing a statewide indoor mask mandate?
2. There is broad agreement on the importance of keeping schools open. The state has extended the mask mandate in public schools to reduce the spread. Gov. Baker, why are you jeopardizing in-person learning by refusing to implement a universal indoor mask mandate to prevent spread in other indoor environments?
3. The state has distributed millions of rapid antigen tests. However, there is no state-specific guidance on their use, and there is widespread confusion about the most effective way that residents can use these tests and whether they should report the results. Gov. Baker, what is your strategy for using rapid tests to slow the spread?
The Massachusetts Public Health Association (MPHA) is a nonprofit organization that promotes a healthy Massachusetts through advocacy, community organizing, and coalition building. We are leaders in the movement to create health equity by addressing the root causes of health and wellness. We promote policies that impact the major drivers of health outcomes, such as access to healthy food, safe affordable housing, and transportation. We also advocate for equitable public health services throughout the Commonwealth. To learn more, visit www.mapublichealth.org. ###
BOSTON, MA – Today, the Massachusetts Public Health Association (MPHA) praised the Joint Committee on Public Health for issuing a favorable report on the Statewide Accelerated Public Health for Every Community Act (SAPHE 2.0). This landmark bill would create minimum public health standards for every Massachusetts community, ensure a qualified workforce by credentialing public health workers, incentivize municipalities to share services, create a uniform data collection and reporting system, and dedicate state funding to support local boards of health and health departments.
“This favorable report from the Public Health Committee marks an important step forward in the effort to transform our broken local public health system,” said Kristina Kimani, Assistant Policy Director at the Massachusetts Public Health Association. “The SAPHE 2.0 bill contains the critical policy solutions that Massachusetts needs to ensure that all residents benefit from effective public health protections. We are extremely grateful to Public Health Committee Chairs Marjorie Decker and Jo Comerford for their leadership and support, as well as for the unwavering commitment of the bill’s three sponsors, Chair Jo Comerford, Chair Denise Garlick, and Rep. Hannah Kane.”
MPHA is part of a coalition of local and state officials, public health experts and academic leaders that have been calling on the Legislature to take urgent action to improve the local public health system in Massachusetts.
Multilingual resource will support employer efforts to increase vaccinations and keep workers safe in an equitable way
BOSTON – Today the Vaccine Equity Now! Coalition (VEN) is releasing a set of equity principles for workplace COVID-19 vaccine policies and safety practices. The resource is intended to guide employers through the process of implementing policies that will increase COVID-19 vaccinations, limit the spread of the virus and promote employee health and wellbeing, while taking into consideration the significant racial and social inequities that have been perpetuated by the pandemic and Massachusetts’s vaccine rollout.
“There is no doubt that widespread COVID-19 vaccination is our best tool to combat the spread of the virus, and workplace policies requiring employees to be vaccinated have been effective in increasing uptake,” said Dr. Atyia Martin, Co-Chair of the Vaccine Equity Now! Coalition. “However, employers must take a thoughtful, collaborative approach to these policies that considers the racial and social inequities that existed long before the pandemic, have been exacerbated by the pandemic and have played out in the state’s vaccination program. We hope that this resource will help employers center equity in the development and implementation of these policies in a way that supports the health and wellbeing of everyone in the community.”
The guide emphasizes that employers have a key role to play in supporting health education and partnering with trusted messengers to get employees and their families vaccinated. It outlines strategies that employers could adopt to implement comprehensive workplace policies that are informed by significant employee engagement and promote their health and wealth. Some suggested strategies include hosting on-site vaccination clinics and testing that can be conducted on paid time, partnering with trusted community organizations to host on-site educational events, implementing comprehensive COVID-19 mitigation and prevention measures and offering a broad paid sick leave policy.
Equity Principles for Workplace COVID Vaccine Policies and Safety Practices: English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole.
BOSTON, MA – Today, the Massachusetts Public Health Association (MPHA) issued the following statement in response to the release of the House and Senate Conference Committee’s ARPA bill, which allocates $200M towards improving the state’s local public health system.
“This marks a major step forward in the effort to transform our dangerously inadequate and inequitable local public health system,” said Maddie Ribble, Director of Public Policy at the Massachusetts Public Health Association. “Thanks to the funding allocated in this bill, Massachusetts will move closer to a 21st-century local public health system that our state can be proud of. We are extremely grateful for the support of Senate President Spilka, House Speaker Mariano, Chair Rodrigues, Chair Michlewitz, Chair Hunt, and Chair Decker for their support of these critical investments, as well as for the unflagging leadership of Sen. Comerford, Chair Garlick, and Rep. Kane.”
“We are disappointed that essential policy reforms to address the significant structural challenges in our local health system were not included in the final conference bill. As a result, it is more critical than ever that the SAPHE 2.0 legislation is passed quickly into law,” said Ribble. “Funding is only part of the solution. To really fix this broken system, we must implement the policy changes that are desperately needed, as well.”
Findings underscore need for racial data, should inform equity strategy for vaccination of 5-11 year olds and boosters
BOSTON – Today the Vaccine Equity Now! Coalition is releasing a new data visualization in partnership with Boston Indicators that depicts the inequities in COVID-19 vaccination rates among 12-19 year olds in Massachusetts. Overall, the scatterplot shows that many communities with higher cumulative incidences of COVID-19 and higher social vulnerability ratings have lower rates of vaccination among 12-19 year olds. Conversely, many communities with lower incidences of COVID and lower social vulnerability ratings have higher rates of vaccination among 12-19 year olds.
“We are nine months into the state’s vaccination program, yet we are still seeing the same inequities that plagued the program from the start. The data visualization we are releasing today shows in no uncertain terms that many of the Massachusetts communities that are most vulnerable in emergencies and have the highest cumulative COVID incidence also have the lowest vaccination rates for 12-19 year olds,” said Dr. Atyia Martin, Co-Chair of the Vaccine Equity Now! Coalition. “We urge the Baker administration to recognize these inequities and use this data to guide their strategy moving forward as eligibility is expanded even further to 5-11 year olds and to the general public for boosters. Furthermore, we continue to urge the Department of Public Health to report vaccination rates by race/ethnicity and age, as well as COVID cases by age at the city/town level, to better understand the racial inequities in vaccinations.”
Massachusetts Public Health Alliance
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