From the Editor: JPHMP Achieves a New Milestone with 30 Years of Publication

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This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series Jan 2025

The January issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice marks the 30-year anniversary of this publication. The lead commentary describes the balance of parental rights and public health. Authored by Y Tony Yang and Sarah Schaffer DeRoo, it offers valuable insights to engage parents, combat misinformation, and ensure informed consents and vaccine access. The decline in childhood vaccination rates associated with anti-vaccine sentiment challenges public health. This is especially important now that we know the results of the presidential election with uncertainty about official policy regarding vaccine requirements.

The issue contains a number of articles focusing on substance use. Zoe Lindenfeld and colleagues examined the association of local government investments in social determinants of health (SDOH) with drug overdose mortality at the county level. A prior study has examined SDOH characteristics in counties with overdose deaths but had not included government investments in social determinants. This study found counties in the highest three quartiles of SDOH spending had significantly lower rates of overdose deaths compared with counties in the lowest quartile of SDOH spending.

Brad Ray and co-authors developed a state dashboard with components including overdose, incarceration, emergency medical events, and prescription dispensation. The researchers partnered with Indiana state government to develop this real-time dashboard with multiple data sources. The dashboard provides multiple opportunities for overdose prevention and strategies to reduce overdose deaths.

Leon Cosler and colleagues write that the opioid epidemic remains a public health crisis. Opioid overdose deaths involving both prescription and non-prescription opioids have increased over the last two decades. They measured the longitudinal effect of opioid restrictions on prescribing patterns at state and regional levels. Contrary to other research conducted over a shorter study period, they found that restrictions do reduce opioid prescribing.

Bruce Wallace and colleagues evaluated a drug checking training program for frontline harm reduction workers including the implications for practice. Drug checking is the use of instruments such as spectrometers or test strips that provide information on drug composition for harm reduction. This intervention has reduced overdose deaths. This article describes a drug checking program in Victoria, Canada. After completing a 7-hour training program, harm reduction workers were able to deliver drug checking.

About the Author

Lloyd F. Novick
Lloyd F. Novick, MD, MPH is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Public Health at the Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University. Previously, he was chair of this Department. He has served as the Commissioner of Health and Secretary for Human Services of Vermont, Director of Health Services for Arizona, and Director of the Office of Public Health for New York State. Previous academic positions include Professor and Director of the Preventive Medicine Program for SUNY Upstate Medical University, Professor and Chair of Epidemiology at the University of Albany School of Public Health, and Clinical Professor and Director of the Teaching Program in Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Vermont, College of Medicine.
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