Johns Hopkins Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health

June 7 – 18, 2021
PFRH Summer Institute 2021: Data to Policy in Population, Family & Reproductive Health Register Now!
Enhance your ability to use data to shape, advocate for, and evaluate policies that affect families, reproductive health, and the health of populations. Develop skills to:
- Assess health and health determinants using data and scientific research
- Develop and advocate for evidence-based policies to respond to population health needs
- Evaluate and discuss policy impact to assure implemented policies and programs achieve their purpose
The Summer Institute offers:
-Condensed course formats from two days to two weeks
-Courses that can be taken for credit or non-credit
-Industry-leading, interactive online courses
-Bloomberg School faculty instruction
The Summer Institute is open to non-degree and degree students.
https://www.jhsph.edu/departments/population-family-and-reproductive-health/summer-institute/

Christina Bethell's interview on NPR.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/09/09/759031061/positive-childhood-experiences-may-buffer-against-health-effects-of-adverse-ones

Read about the study @ https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2749336

Positive Childhood Experiences May Buffer Against Health Effects Of Adverse Ones Researchers asked adults to reflect back on their happy childhood memories. They found those who recalled more were less likely to have depression in adulthood and had more supportive relationships.

Women’s Health.
"We're clearly in the throes of major social change with regard to women getting married and choosing to have children," Donna Strobino, Professor, told NBC News as the CDC reports the lowest U.S. birth rate in 32 years.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/birth-rate-u-s-falls-lowest-level-32-years-cdc-n1005696

Birth rate in the U.S. drops again, to its lowest level in 32 years On the upside, teen births are at record lows, and more women in their late 30s and early 40s are having babies.

Congratulations to Amy Ong Tsui, PhD, Professor, on receiving the Dean's Award for Distinction in Faculty Mentoring.
This award recognizes a faculty member’s sustained commitment to excellence in fostering the scientific, academic and/or career development of fellow faculty members at the Bloomberg School. Please join us in congratulating Amy for this well-deserved honor.
https://www.jhsph.edu/faculty/directory/profile/1025/amy-ong-tsui

A special thank you to Suzanne Bell, PhD, MPH, Assistant Scientist, Caroline Moreau, MD, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor, and Mridula Shankar, PhD Student in the Population, Family, Reproductive Health Department for discussing their work on “Increasingly Safe but Harder to Measure: Abortion incidence, safety, and access in Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, and India” on Wednesday, February 27, 2019.

If you missed the seminar, you can access the online recording below:
https://connect.johnshopkins.edu/p8tylv0j0vv/

Dr. Moreau provided an overview of unsafe abortion and how it is a public health imperative as it contributes to the burden of disease and high levels of mortality and morbidity. Dr. Bell and Mridula Shankar discussed their research on abortion incidence measurement and their use of confidante methodology for valid outcomes of interests rather than asking the respondents directly. Dr. Bell summarized how abortion is quite common and how the confidante methodology produced more valid data particularly in certain contexts, and dual conceptualization of abortion experiences should be taken into consideration to ensure we are capturing full range of abortion experiences.

Unsafe abortions most likely to occur in legally restrictive settings and women level safety data allowed to measure inequities in access to safe abortion care. Mridula Shankar discussed the preliminary findings on the dispensing of abortion drugs through pharmacies – women are self-sourcing abortion drugs from untrained providers in low resource settings. There is recognition that quality of care needs attention in formal and informal health care settings and there is ongoing work on the need for growing range. Using female-based questionnaires and first-hand experience gives complementary information in addition to facility-based types of information.

A special thank you to Miriam Zoila Perez, Writer and Activist for discussing How Racism Harms Pregnant Women – and what can help? on Wednesday, January 30, 2019.

If you missed the seminar, you can access the online recording below:
https://connect.johnshopkins.edu/p71svlb9s31/

Miriam discussed reproductive justice and what lessons we can apply from birthing center models that focus on the most marginalized populations. She explained how there is a much bigger picture of how racism is making people sick and how there is a correlation between self-reported experiences of discrimination and poor health outcomes.

She then explained why certain birthing center models are so effective – they follow the doula model, provide non-judgmental care during pregnancy; get rid of punitive issues that show up in these environments; hire those who fundamentally believe that women can have healthy babies; build social support into these models; money is not a factor in these models and how we can apply this in a broader sense.

What other environments can we apply these models into the public health sphere? How can we apply this conversation into all aspects of health care and how do we deal with implicit bias within the health care space?

The HHS Office of Adolescent Health partnered with Johns Hopkins Center for Adolescent Health to provide critical information on why teens develop, think, and act the way they do, and how adults can use this info to support adolescents. Kudos to Beth Marshall, Associate Director and the CAH team!

www.hhs.gov

https://www.jhsph.edu/news/stories/2019/guyer-scholarship-nurtures-maternal-and-child-health-and-development-research.html

The Guyer Scholarship Nurtures Maternal and Child Health and Development Research How the Guyer Scholarship is nurturing the next generation of maternal and child health and development research at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Christina Bethell and the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI) team, in collaboration with and funding from , has released the combined 2016-17 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) *free* downloadable data sets and codebooks on their Data Resource Center (DRC) website, childhealthdata.org! Access valuable US data regarding child and adolescent health. This is also a great resource when computing secondary data analysis for research and classwork. For more information on how to request the newest data sets and codebooks, please visit their website here: https://bit.ly/2jAVaI8. The NSCH is funded and directed by .

Request an NSCH or NS-CSHCN Data Set--Data Resource Center As part of our mission to advance the use of child health data, the Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health offers enhanced analytical data sets and codebooks based on the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) and the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (N...

A special thank you to Renee Boss, MD, MHS, Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins Division of Neonatology and Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics for discussing Decisions Regarding Resuscitation of Extremely Premature Infants: Should Social Context Matter? on Wednesday, December 12, 2018.

If you missed the seminar, you can access the online recording below:
https://connect.johnshopkins.edu/p3pa5q5e0vb/

Dr. Boss discussed the social context and the long-term outcomes of prematurity as well as the importance of collaborative decision making to discuss what stressors are important, how to imagine taking care of a child with medical fragility. How can we approach sensitive topics like this in our conversations to be more inclusive of social contexts and account for justice, bias, and paternalism within the conversation?

A special thank you to Bill Novelli, Founder, Global Social Enterprise Initiative and Distinguished Professor of the Practice, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University for discussing The Power of Advocacy: From Global Health and To***co to Aging and Advanced Illness on Tuesday, December 11, 2018.

As part of the Center for public Health Advocacy distinguished speaker series, Novelli started off the conversation by contextualizing the word “advocacy” and provided us with seven lessons learned to make a difference in the public health field. He delved into where we can go from here in the advocacy space and discussed the need to rebuild trust within the community and how it is time we get angry and much more aggressive when dealing when public health.

Novelli reminded us to be relentless, strategic, and aggressive. Where do you think you can be more aggressive in your own work in terms of advocating your research within the public health space?

A special thank you to Nathalie Kapp, MD, MPH, Associate Medical Director at Ipas for discussing her research on Wednesday, December 5, 2018 on Advancing Access to Medical Abortion.

If you missed the seminar, you can access the online recording below:
https://connect.johnshopkins.edu/p1kpsowt5z6/

Dr. Kapp discussed medical abortion and the framework for abortion to over the counter status. She went over the factors decreasing complications, the process of medical abortion, the current medical abortion services, and changing landscape of medical abortion. Through this, she further elaborated on her research related to access to label comprehension (ie. can women understand information needed for safe and effective use by reading the package label) and explained the need for additional care (medicine or procedure) to complete their abortion and focused on two case studies in Ghana and Cambodia. Through Dr. Kapps’s research, could we reach a point where women can safely buy and use abortion pills without ever seeing a health provider?

December 5 - Nathalie Kapp_0 "); frameDoc.document.close(); } function unloadWindow() { if (window.opener!=null) { // If the refreshCurriculumTree method exists, then call it. // Otherwise, just reload the page. if (window.opener.refreshCurriculumTree) { window.opener.refreshCurriculumTree(); } else { var URL = unescape(window....

A special thank you to Katherine Yun, MD, MHS, Faculty at PolicyLab, Attending Pediatrician, Refugee Health Program and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania for discussing her work on Children in Immigrant Families, "Public Charge" and Other Policy Priorities.

Dr. Yun tied in how public charge issues is front and center with immigrants who are dependent on the government and the history behind public charge.

She explained the role of totality of circumstances and elaborated on how this directly affects children in immigrant families - including how it penalizes families for being poor (which is most prevalent for families who have children) and penalizes children for potential future use of public charge.

Dr. Yun also elaborated on how public charge would have a disproportionate impact on children (and women) - who are most likely to be poor.

The Public Charge is a proposed change to regulation and public comments are open until December 10. Dr. Yun strongly urged students and faculty to submit their own comments based on their background and knowledge on families and immigrant children to the Federal Registrar.

Cross-country studies conducted by Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 in the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health revealed that most Nigerian women’s motivations to become pregnant were not only based on their own values, but also shaped by external pressures from husbands, families and communities.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/11/nigerian-women-under-pressure-to-bear-more-children/

‘Nigerian women under pressure to bear more children’ - Vanguard News Nigeria Nigerian women are often under pressure by family and through societal expectations to give birth to more children.

A special thank you to Rebecca Mui, Education Manager at GLSEN for discussing her advocacy work on Wednesday, November 15, 2018 on LGBTQ and Gender Diverse Approaches to S*xual Health Education.

If you missed the seminar, you can access the online recording below:
https://connect.johnshopkins.edu/p2c0dzr7uru/

Rebecca discussed the need for intersectionality within the LGBTQ conversation and the risk factors that LGBTQ youth face which contribute to mental health problems and other health consequences. She emphasized the need for a gender resurgence in s*x and health education and provided insight on what we can do to prepare LGBTQ youth through s*x/health education within our communities.

What are some ways that we can apply LGBTQ issues in the public health arena in a way that is not focused on gender binaries and how can we allow for more intersectionality within our conversations and lectures?

November 14 - Becca Mui_0 "); frameDoc.document.close(); } function unloadWindow() { if (window.opener!=null) { // If the refreshCurriculumTree method exists, then call it. // Otherwise, just reload the page. if (window.opener.refreshCurriculumTree) { window.opener.refreshCurriculumTree(); } else { var URL = unescape(window....

A special thank you to Koki Agarwal, MD, DrPh, Director of Maternal and Survivor Program and Vice President, DC Operations at Jhpiego for discussing her work on Wednesday, October 31, 2018 on Reducing Maternal Deaths What Works and How Countries Apply Evidence.

Dr. Agarwal discussed the need to address maternal health and child needs and applied this to the Jhpiego model to prevent the needless deaths of women and families. What are some other evidence based methods that other organizations could apply to reduce maternal deaths and what do you think works best?

A special thank you to Matteo Bonotti, PhD, Lecturer, Department of Politics and International Relations at Monash University for discussing his work (co-authored with Gideon Calder at Swansea University) on Monday, October 29, on Opportunity Pluralism and Children’s Health.

Bonotti argued that the overarching ways of thinking about the relationship between children’s health and equal opportunity are flawed. Why do you think it is important to pluralize our understanding of children’s health? How do you think different social backgrounds and opportunities play a role on children’s health?

If you missed the seminar, you can access the online recording below:
https://youtu.be/I4BcZEyJ8go

www.youtube.com

Hosted by UNICEF and WHO, 114 ministerial delegations met today in Astana and voted by acclamation to reaffirm their commitment to the principles of Primary Health Care developed 40 years ago in Alma-Ata. Johns Hopkins faculty delegates included Bill Brieger, Meike Schleiff, and PFRH professor David Bishai.

Read the new declaration at
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/new-global-commitment-primary-health-care-all-astana-conference

This declaration specifically calls out the public health profession's role at the center of Primary Health Care. Students beware, the Astana Declaration is going to be on the test sometime soon.😊

Robert Blum, MD, PhD, MPH, Professor is quoted in a Forbes article.
Get the latest news of the Global Early Adolescent Study.
https://twitter.com/geastudy/status/1052591529372598275

What Is All That Confidence About? There are thousands of “How to” articles and books about (self-)confidence. However, this isn’t what this article is about. It digs deeper into why confidence is so glorified and tries to demystify the topic since there are plenty of misconceptions and misbeliefs about confidence.

A special thank you to our panelists for discussing their work yesterday at the "Bringing Racism to the Forefront of Maternal and Child Health in Baltimore City: B’more for Healthy Babies Approach" seminar.

Moderator: Rebecca Dineen, MS
Panelists: Pamela Brown, Cathy Costa, MSW, MPH, Stacey Stephens, MSW, LCSW-C, Tina Suliman, MSPH, Stacey Tuck, MS

If you missed the seminar, you can access the online recording below:
https://connect.johnshopkins.edu/p6czlzcq75t/?OWASP_CSRFTOKEN=484724a076738a31e5508dceb57236233c485fd70038ccafc8972b8c52582dca

What are some ways that we can undo and further enhance the dialogue on racism within the Johns Hopkins community and beyond?

Please join us today at 4:30 p.m. in Becton Dickinson Hall (W1020) for a special panel presentation on The 2018 Guttmacher-Lancet Commission "S*x and Reproduction at the Center of Health and Rights" featuring panelists Alex Ezeh, Angela Mutunga, and Sophia Sadinsky. Hope to see you all there!

Congratulations to The Challenge Initiative - TCI on the supplemental grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation!

Gates Foundation awards $20.5M to Bloomberg School program to focus on urban youth and reproductive health The Challenge Initiative in the Bloomberg School of Public Health implements evidence-based reproductive health interventions in parts of Africa and India

https://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2018/tamar-mendelson-named-bloomberg-professor-of-american-health.html

Tamar Mendelson Named Bloomberg Professor of American Health Associate Professor Tamar Mendelson, PhD, an expert in adolescent mental health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has been appointed as a Bloomberg Professor of American Health.

Trends in Contraceptive Use and Increasing Access to Family by Beth Fredrick and Scott Radloff

https://www.gatesinstitute.org/news/one-one-beth-fredrick-advance-family-planning-and-scott-radloff-performance-monitoring-and

One on One — Beth Fredrick of Advance Family Planning and Scott Radloff of Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 on Trends in Contraceptive Use and Increasing Access to Family Planning | Gates Institute for Population & Reproductive...

Home Visiting Applied Research Collaborative (HARC)

Precision home visiting uses research to identify what aspects of home visiting work for which families in what circumstances. Learn more and apply for HARC funding for short-term pilot studies at www.hvresearch.org.

Home - Home Visiting Applied Research Collaborative (HARC) The Home Visiting Applied Research Collaborative (HARC) was established in 2012. Its aim is to strengthen and broaden the impact of home visiting, using innovative research to achieve precision home visiting.

Separating Families at U.S. Borders is a Public Health Issue. With Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy & Management JHSPH, JHSPH Department of Epidemiology and Johns Hopkins Department of International Health

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last year, as a result of a new policy established by top officials in the Trump administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has separated at least hundreds—and possibly thousands—of families at the border with Mexico who are seeking asylum in the United States.

According to several news reports, once separated, parents are being denied access to information about what’s happening to their children, many of whom are apparently held in government facilities for days or weeks in sealed enclosures. Some of the children are toddlers, too young to be questioned and too young to understand why they are being taken from their parents. In some cases, U.S. border officials have failed to return children to their families promptly after parents are released.

The administration has defended this new policy with two primary arguments: (1) the parents have broken federal law, and this is what happens to those who break the law; and (2) the policy will deter immigration.

In fact, the administration is separating families who are following procedures to apply for asylum at the border, not having violated any law. Moreover, other families who have been detained after crossing the border are fleeing violence for a safer life and will seek asylum at the first opportunity to do so. These families have not committed a felony and should not be treated as threats to public safety. Further, there is no evidence that the new policy has led to the intended result of substantially reduced immigration at the border.

The evidence points in a different direction: The administration’s policy is damaging children, their families, their communities and public health.

Our field recognizes the importance of avoiding Adverse Childhood Experiences for the healthy growth and development of children. Trauma early in life contributes to a broad range of serious health outcomes, including social impairment, disease and disability, and early death. The harsh treatment of children at the border will affect their health and their lives for many years to come. The trauma to their parents is also devastating, and the lasting consequences to thousands of families will be profound.

These family separations violate the most widely ratified of all human rights conventions, the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Last week, the human rights office of the United Nations objected to forced separations at the U.S. border, stating “the use of immigration detention and family separation as a deterrent runs counter to human rights standards and principles,” and “there is nothing normal about detaining children.”

A number of organizations are working in courtrooms and on the ground to help immigrant children and families and contest other related policies.

We stand with these organizations. There are many in our School and in our field who plan to use evidence and a commitment to human rights to seek an end to the unacceptable practice of separating children from their parents in search of asylum in the United States.

Sincerely,

Ellen J. MacKenzie, PhD ’79, MSc ’75
Dean, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Joshua M. Sharfstein, MD
Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement
Professor of the Practice, Department of Health Policy and Management
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health


Cynthia Schaffer Minkovitz, MD, MPP
Chair, Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health
William H. Gates Sr. Professor
Director, Women's and Children's Health Policy Center
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health


Chris Beyrer, MD, MPH ’91
Desmond M. Tutu Professor of Public Health and Human Rights
Department of Epidemiology
Director, Center for Public Health and Human Rights
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health


Paul Spiegel, MD, MPH ‘96
Professor of the Practice, Department of International Health
Director, Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Smartphone app shown to promote carseat safety

David Bishai, PhD, et.al, published the study results in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749379718315873

Smartphone app shown to promote carseat safety A smartphone app designed to promote proper child car seat use among parents proved effective in a study led by researchers at Arkansas Children’s

Johns Hopkins Center for Adolescent Health

Katrina L. Brooks, the Center's community relations director and Lauren Burns, research assistant, share the work of the Youth Leadership and Advocacy Network (YLAN) to give a voice to Baltimore youth.

Channeling the Energy and Activism of Baltimore Youth | Bloomberg American Health Initiative On any given day, Baltimore City youth are participating in training sessions, discussing complex issues such as s*xual health, wellness and physical activity with their peers, and brainstorming solutions as part of the Youth Leadership and Advocacy Network.

Data Resource Center for Child & Adolescent Health
Child & Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI)

In a study conducted by the Child & Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI), new findings indicate that 46 percent of U.S. youth have had at least one Adverse childhood experience (ACE).

Joy Jackson column: It's been nine weeks: afterschool, youth well-being, and gun violence Nine weeks after the Parkland shooting, Congress is still having trouble making the U.S. a safer place for young people. While it may seem a little unrealistic to want change

NEW COURSE
Racism and S*xual and Reproductive Health
4th Term Special Studies and Research in Population, Family and Reproductive Health
https://www.jhsph.edu/courses/course/25330/2017/380.840.01/special-studies-and-research-in-population-family

This discussion-based course will examine the intersections of culture, race/ethnicity, racism and the role of public health, both historically and currently, within s*xual and reproductive health programming imparted to populations of color in the United States.

Topics include history of reproductive control, current trends in reproductive health, and policy implications. Sessions with faculty and guest speakers from the field of reproductive justice.

Day/Time: Thursdays, 3:30PM to 5:20PM, 4th Term Registration: PH.380.840, 2 units with Anne Burke. Capped at 12 students.
Location: Wolfe St. Building, Room TBD
Contact: Abba Greenleaf, [email protected]
Yousra Yusuf, [email protected]

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: FRIDAY MARCH 16, 2018

380.840.01 Special Studies and Research in Population, Family and Reproductive Health, 2017 4th term - Course Catalog - Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Special Studies and Research in Population, Family and Reproductive Health:

Professor David Bishai announces TVEE Project Open Source Health Economics Courses.
Read more at https://gallery.mailchimp.com/bf4aba28326bb6b1897264cd3/files/f65bc303-1471-4938-8609-774e97a6bec0/PFRH_Open_Source_Courses_in_Health_Economics.pdf

View the modules @
http://ocw.jhsph.edu/index.cfm/go/find.browse /collectionID/9/

For more information, please contact Shreena Malaviya [email protected].

CAHMI Celebrates International Woman's Day
Here at the , we will continue to & fight for the ! Happy , everyone!

NEW COURSE
Urban Health in Contemporary America
4th term registration opened until Friday March 16

https://www.jhsph.edu/courses/course/25462/2017/380.635.01/urban-health-in-contemporary-america

SYLLABUS
https://urbanhealthjhsph.wordpress.com/

380.635.01 Urban Health in Contemporary America, 2017 4th term - Course Catalog - Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Urban Health in Contemporary America: Introduces students to the historical forces associated with the rise of the modern city and the fundamental characteristics of urban living in the U. S.

http://www.childhealthdata.org/
The 2016 National Survey of Children's Health dataset is ready for request through our one-time registration feature.
Data on hundreds of child health indicators are available in a variety of formats. Information is available on physical health, emotional health, specific conditions, health insurance, quality of care, and a variety of other topics.
The mission of the Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health (DRC) is to advance the effective use of public data on the status of children’s health and health-related services for children, youth and families in the United States.

The Home Visiting Applied Research Collaborative (HARC), led by Dr. Anne Duggan, is excited to announce the launch of its re-designed website! Please visit our website to learn more about HARC and our new initiative to promote precision home visiting.

http://www.hvresearch.org/