The 2025 State of Obesity report highlights persistent challenges and emerging opportunities in addressing the nation’s obesity crisis. While 2024 data show a slight decline in states with adult obesity rates above 35 percent, nearly 40 percent of U.S. adults remain affected, with higher rates among Black and Latino populations and residents of rural communities. Childhood obesity continues to…

Public health communicators face growing challenges as audiences become more skeptical and information spreads rapidly. The Coalition for Trust in Health & Science (CTHS) is hosting a three-part virtual workshop, Science to Strategy: A Playbook for Clearer Communication, on October 23, November 6, and November 20. Led by Brinleigh Murphy-Reuter, the series provides practical tools to impr…

Health professionals increasingly recognize that human wellbeing is inseparable from the health of the planet. While climate change has gained attention in public health, biodiversity loss remains underappreciated despite its critical role in food, water, air quality, disease regulation, and mental health. Rapid species declines and ecosystem disruption directly affect human health, from increa…

A recent KFF poll highlights widespread public uncertainty around health claims and trust in public health institutions. Following a federal warning linking acetaminophen use in pregnancy to autism—despite inconclusive evidence—most adults are unsure whether the claim is true, with perceptions heavily split along partisan lines. Trust in the CDC has declined to its lowest point since the COVI…

The upcoming U.S. dietary guidelines, expected to be released under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., could mark a sharp shift in federal nutrition policy. Historically grounded in decades of evidence-based recommendations, the guidelines inform major public health programs including school lunches and food aid. Kennedy has signaled a more condensed and simplified versi…

Nevada has launched one of the nation’s first public health insurance options—the Battle Born State Plans—designed to make coverage more affordable and expand access to care. Offered through Nevada Health Link, the plans build on the Affordable Care Act by requiring premium reductions of up to 15% within four years while maintaining essential health benefits and protections for pre-existing con…

A new Global Burden of Disease study highlights an emerging public health crisis: rising death rates among teenagers and young adults, even as overall global mortality falls. In North and Latin America, increases are linked to suicide, alcohol, and drug use, often tied to surging anxiety and depression. In sub-Saharan Africa, infectious diseases, injuries, and maternal deaths remain major threa…

A new WHO report warns that antibiotic resistance is rising globally, with one in six bacterial infections in 2023 resistant to treatment. Drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria, including E. coli and K. pneumoniae, are increasingly linked to severe bloodstream infections, with resistance exceeding 70% in some regions. Between 2018 and 2023, resistance rose in over 40% of monitored pathogen-anti…

Federal health officials have issued a public health alert warning consumers not to eat certain Hello Fresh Ready Made Meals containing spinach, which may be contaminated with listeria. The recall follows testing by FreshRealm, the producer, after the quick-frozen spinach tested positive for listeria. No illnesses have yet been reported, and the detected strain does not match any known outbre…