Department of Health Policy

Statewide stay-at-home orders put in place as Tennessee fought to control the spread of coronavirus last March were associated with a 14% lower rate of preterm birth, according to a research letter published today in JAMA Pediatrics.

A Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigator is hoping to improve access to HIV testing in South Africa, where more than 7 million people are known to have the virus, by training traditional healers to perform the tests.

The latest Vanderbilt Child Health Poll release found that many Tennessee parents are worried about the mental health of their children during the COVID-19 pandemic, and over 80% of parents had concerns about their children attending school remotely. The Poll also revealed that schooling practices and mental health concerns have varied widely among Tennessee families of different racial and economic groups.

The rate of mothers who had an opioid-related diagnosis when delivering their baby increased by 131% from 2010-2017, as the incidence of babies diagnosed with drug withdrawal, known as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), increased by 82% nationally during that same time period.

Many Tennessee parents are not wearing masks consistently to control community spread of COVID-19, despite recommendations from public health officials, according to new a poll conducted by the Vanderbilt Center for Child Health Policy.

The difficulty of policymaking with a divided government and electorate was the underlying theme of the Research into Policy and Practice webinar sponsored by the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center as panelists and attendees gathered virtually to take measure of the post-election American landscape, over which hangs the pall of a surging pandemic.

Just a year after its founding as an online channel of information, the Journal of the American Medical Association’s (JAMA’s) Health Forum will become a full-fledged journal in January 2021.