Many students staring or returning to college this fall may find something missing—exposure to tobacco products.

Last September the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), together with several key partners, launched the National Tobacco-Free College Campus Initiative to promote and support the adoption and implementation of tobacco-free policies at universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher learning across the U.S. Initiative partners include the American College Health Association and the University of Michigan. Initiative staff members work closely with academic leaders, public health advocates, students, researchers, and others to help speed up the elimination of tobacco use on college campuses. “This is a lofty goal, but an attainable one, as we are witnessing exponential growth in the adoption of these policies by academic institutions in all regions of the country,” says Howard Koh, MD, MPH, the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health who helped launch the initiative last year at the University of Michigan, which included an internationally webcast symposium at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

The initiative includes a website created to serve as a clearinghouse of key information to assist educational communities in establishing tobacco-free environments. The University of Michigan’s comprehensive smoke-free policy went into effect in 2011.

Smoke-free and tobacco-free policies are not the same, according to HHS. Smoke-free policies refer to any lighted or heated tobacco or plant product intended for inhalation—including cigars, cigarettes and pipes. Tobacco-free policies cover these and all other forms of tobacco (although e-cigarettes are still exempt on some campuses due to the still-evolving nature of the regulations). HHS officials point out that although some campuses are smoke-free while others are tobacco-free, the ultimate goal is for all campuses to eventually be 100 percent tobacco-free.

With the start of the fall college imminent or already underway at most universities, NewPublicHealth spoke with Dr.Koh about the success of the Tobacco-Free College Campus Initiative so far, and what’s ahead in tobacco control efforts for young adults by the Department of Health and Human Services.

NewPublicHealth: What success has the initiative seen since it was launched last year?

Dr. Koh: We’re very proud that the Tobacco-Free College Campus Initiative has accelerated rapidly. When we formally announced this in September of 2012, there were 774 colleges and universities that were tobacco or smoke-free and as of right now, the number has risen to 1,159—that’s an increase of more than one-third in less than a year. We are gratified by the positive response from colleges and universities and leaders from across the country who want to make their environments healthier.

NPH: What are the short-term and long-term goals for the initiative?

Dr. Koh: The ultimate goal is to have all colleges and universities in the U.S. choose to become 100 percent tobacco-free and we’re making steady progress towards that goal because we fully understand that prevention efforts must focus not just on children, but also young adults. The number of smokers who are starting to smoke after age 18 has increased. That number was a million in 2010 when it used to be 600,000 in 2002. We have figures that show that one out of four full-time college students were current smokers in 2010, which is higher than the national prevalence of 19 percent. These numbers underscore why college is a critical age to influence health habits of young adults.

Even as the global population continues to grow, technological and societal advances mean that our world is constantly getting smaller. Or at least that we are becoming more interconnected.

Understanding this—that a person in a Midwestern U.S. state is better off when a person on the other side of the world has access to quality health care—the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Global Health Strategy is working with partners across the globe to improve the health of everyone.

"Although the chief mission of [HHS] is to enhance the health and well being of Americans, it is critically important that we cooperate with other nations and international organizations to reduce the risks of disease, disability, and premature death throughout the world," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

One of the most powerful initiatives has been the push toward greater immunization rates. Immunizations alone saved 3 million children’s lives in 2011. Over the past decade, premature deaths from measles have been cut by 71 percent and from tetanus by more than 90 percent. And polio is closer and closer to complete eradication.

Still, vaccine-preventable diseases still account for approximately one in four global deaths of children under the age of 5. And of the 22 million children who go without the full benefits of vaccines each year, it is often the poorest that are most affected.

Among the greatest continuing obstacles are the persistent myths surrounding vaccinations, such as the false and repeatedly debunked belief that they cause autism.

“Overcoming these mistaken beliefs has become an integral part of our work towards global vaccine access. Until we reach the day when no lives are lost to vaccine-preventable diseases, we will aggressively continue to develop new and improved vaccines and ensure they are available to everyone in every country.”

>> Read the full “Beyond our borders: Why the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services invests in global efforts” at DefeatDD.org.

USDA Issues Rules for Healthy Snacks at School
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released rules for healthy snacks at school. The program, called Smart Snacks in School and required by the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, applies to snack food and a la carte foods sold at meal time. The rules take effect for the school year beginning in 2014. The rules do not apply to foods brought from home or to fundraisers held during after-school hours. The rules promote foods with more whole grains, low-fat dairy, fruits, vegetables and leaner protein, as well as foods lower in fat, sugar and sodium that provide more of the nutrients kids need. New rules also apply to beverages sold at school. Only sports drinks and sodas that contain 60 calories or less per 12-ounce serving will be allowed in high schools. In elementary and middle schools, drink choices will be limited to water, carbonated water, 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice, low-fat milk and fat-free milk.

“The updated standards are critical to addressing the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic and helping our most vulnerable children get the foods and drinks they need to grow up strong and healthy,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “Together with recent efforts to improve school meals, these updates will help to create a culture of health in schools and a better future for millions of children…while the standards will not take effect until the 2014-2015 school year, schools can begin implementation and act now. Let’s seize this opportunity. When it comes to keeping our kids healthy, there is no time to waste.” Read more on obesity.

New York Rebuffs Bloomberg’s Veto, Passes Paid Sick Time Law
New York City lawmakers overrode Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s veto yesterday and passed a law requiring businesses to provide more than one million workers with paid sick time. While other large cities have similar regulations—including Portland, Ore., San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.—supporters believe this vote will help make paid sick time the norm across the entire country. "The catalyst will have been the successful struggle we waged here in New York City," said Dan Cantor, the national executive director of the Working Families Party. Bloomberg vetoed the measure earlier this month on the grounds that the added costs to businesses would ultimately hurt employees. The ordinance was passed after considerable research and advocacy from Community Services Society of New York, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Roadmaps to Health Community Grantee, along with other partners. Read more on public health law.

HHS Seeking Private Sector Innovators, Entrepreneurs to Solve Health Challenges
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is now seeking applicants for its second annual HHSentrepreneurs Program. The program is designed to bring together private sector innovators and entrepreneurs with federal groups working to answer major health, health care and human services challenges. This year’s goal is to place up to eight entrepreneurs into six projects:

• Application of Design Thinking to Grants
• Cloud-Based GIS Maps Displaying Aggregate Data on Medical Malpractice
• Health Information Exchange Accelerators
• Modernizing the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System
• Predictive Analytics: Merging Innovation and Business Operations
• Publication Planning and Clearance Process Improvement Project

Read more on Health and Human Services.

HHS Launches Redesigned Website
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched a redesigned website to make it easier for public health officials, health care experts and consumers navigate the agency’s diverse collection of resources. The new site emphasizes direct access to the latest news and top areas of interest—including priority websites manages by the large agency—while also highlighting ways to connect with HHS on social media, including Twitter and Facebook. Read more on HHS.

Overuse, Unsafe Methods Increase Serious Injury Risk in Youth Baseball
Non-adherence to pitch counts and general overuse has helped lead to a dramatic increase in youth baseball throwing injuries requiring surgery. The injuries now occur 16 times more often as they did only 30 years ago, according to Joseph Guettler, MD, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist with the Beaumont Health System in Royal Oak, Mich. Factors include pitching more than one game per day, pitching on back-to-back days, not utilizing pitch counts and throwing curve balls before high school. "It became very clear that dangerous pitching behavior is occurring among pitchers as young as Little League all the way through their high school years,” said Guettler. “And, the blame doesn't usually lie with the leagues or coaches. Most were found to be adhering to nationally recognized guidelines for pitch limits and rest. It seems much of the blame lies with behavior of parents and their kids.” To avoid injuries, he recommends the “Rule of Ones,” which limits how often a kid pitches, how many positions they play, how many teams that play for and other factors that increase serious injury risk. Read more on injury prevention.

CDC Recommends FluBlok Influenza Vaccine for People with Egg Allergies
In a unanimous vote, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has recommended FluBlok for the upcoming influenza season for people ages 18-49 who suffer from egg allergies. The production of FluBok, which was licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January of this year, does not utilize the influenza virus or chicken eggs. Read more on influenza.

Latinos May Be More Vulnerable to Type 2 Diabetes
A new study in Diabetes Care shows Latinos are more susceptible to type 2 diabetes than other groups due to how they store fat in the pancreas and release insulin into the body. The study was conducted by Cedars-Sinai’s Heart Institute, Biomedical Imaging Research Institute and Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute. “Prevention of diabetes is our goal,” said Richard Bergman, PhD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute. “Not all people who are overweight or obese and who have insulin resistance go on to develop diabetes. If we can determine who is most likely to develop diabetes and why, then we can make strides toward preventing it in those individuals. Read more on diabetes.

NIH Expands Safe Infant Sleep Campaign
The National Institutes of Health is expanding its “Back to Sleep Campaign” into the “Safe to Sleep Campaign.” Where before the campaign focused on reducing sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), it will now cover all sleep-related deaths for infants in the United States. The original campaign, founded in 1994, educated parents, caregivers and health care providers on how to prevent SIDS. “In recent years, we’ve learned that many of the risk factors for SIDS are similar to those for other sleep-related causes of infant death,” said Alan E. Guttmacher, MD, Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). “Placing infants on their backs to sleep and providing them with a safe sleep environment for every sleep time reduces the risk for SIDS as well as death from other causes, such as suffocation.” Read more on infant health.

HHS Releases Common Application for AIDS Drugs to Help Streamline Access for Many Patients
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has started its program to help uninsured HIV patients apply for multiple assistance programs with a single application. The Common Patient Assistance Program Application (CPAPA) is a product of HHS and seven major pharmaceutical companies and foundations. Patient Assistance Programs help approximately 30,000 people in the United States each year. “The last thing someone living with HIV wants to think about is filling out another form,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “This application streamlines and simplifies the process, reduces barriers to medication access, and speeds access to lifesaving drugs.” Read more on HIV.

USC Study Finds Marijuana May Increase the Risk of Testicular Cancer
Recreational marijuana use may increase the risk of certain types of more serious testicular cancer, according to a new study from the University of Southern California published online in CANCER. The study looked at results of recreational drug use in 163 men with the testicular cancer—the most common type of cancer in men ages 15-45—and found they were twice as likely to suffer from non-seminoma and mixed germ cell tumors. The findings support previous studies showing a link between marijuana use and testicular cancer. Read more on cancer.

XIX International AIDS Conference: New HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment Recommendations
Late last week, in advance of the International AIDS Conference meeting this week in Washington, D.C., the World Health Organization recommended using antiretroviral medicines for people who do not have the infection but are at high risk of transmission. And, in a special issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association published this week, the International Antiviral Society has recommended that all HIV patients be treated with antiretroviral drugs, even when the virus’s impact on their immune system is shown to be small. Research by the Society shows that AIDS can lead to other conditions such as cancer and heart and kidney disease. Read more on AIDS.

HHS Announces Public/Private Partnerships to Improve Care for HIV/AIDS Patients
In a speech at the International AIDS conference last night, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced four new initiatives to improve care for HIV/AIDS patients in the United States:

• Streamlined drug assistance application programs: The program would simplify the process for acquiring HIV/AIDS drugs for people who are eligible for financial assistance. (See a sample form.)
• UCARE4LIFE: HHS, in partnership with the MAC AIDS Fund, will launch a mobile texting pilot program called UCARE4LIFE to help patients get appointment, medication and other important reminders and tips for managing HIV/AIDS. A two-year pilot project will focus on southern states, where the epidemic is rising fast among young adults.
• Pharmacy Medication Therapy Management: CDC will partner with pharmacy chain Walgreens to develop a medication therapy management program to model how pharmacies can help patients stay on their medications and in care.
• Online Physician Training Programs: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is working with continuing medical education firm Medscape, to create new training programs to help healthcare providers improve care for HIV/AIDS patients.

Read a summary of news from the AIDS Conference from Kaiser Health News.

Young Adults Undergoing Cancer Treatment Need More Support
A new study by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center finds that young adults with cancer may not be getting all the social, psychological and information support they need. The researchers surveyed 215 newly diagnosed cancer patients between the ages of 14 and 39 and found that, compared to both children and older adult cancer patients, the mid-age patients have a different set of psychosocial needs and issues and were more likely to report insufficient information on infertility, diet and nutrition. The study was published in the journal Cancer. Read more on cancer.

CDC Study Suggests Policy Interventions to Help Reduce Alcohol Drinking Among Women of Childbearing Age
One in two women and one in 13 pregnant women reported drinking in the past thirty days, according to a recent study published in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The researchers say that both pregnant and non-pregnant women of childbearing age who misuse alcohol might benefit from community level policy interventions, such as increased alcohol excise taxes and limiting alcohol outlet density. Read more on maternal and infant health.

High Tornado Fatality Rate Last Year Prompts Strengthened Prevention before Storms
A review by the CDC of last year’s tornado season found that 338 people suffered tornado related fatalities between April 25 and April 28, 2011 in five states, the third highest rate in U.S. history. The CDC found that about thirty percent of the victims were older adults and a quarter of the deaths occurred in mobile homes. The researchers say use of safe rooms is crucial to preventing tornado-related deaths, and that individuals who work or live in a tornado-prone area should develop a tornado safety plan prior to severe weather. Read more on disasters.

“If we really want to improve health in this country, we need to prevent people from getting sick in the first place — to stop the illness before it starts." That was the closing message of U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin's remarks on the final day of the 2012 National Health Promotion Summit, held April 10 through April 11 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.

The summit was hosted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, along with the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research. It included multiple panels and sessions, addressing everything from the impact of community health workers to innovation in community health assessment.

The summit’s ultimate goal was to discuss “national disease prevention and health promotion initiatives,” so the attendees could learn about what was happening around the country, then take those public health lessons home to their own communities. From there, policymakers, health professionals, consumer groups and other organizations can work together to build healthy environments that will help produce healthy individuals.

The best way to advance public health is to create environments, policies and systems where healthy choices are possible, according to Jeff Levi, PhD, Executive Director of the Trust for America's Health. This evidence-based approach leads to more resilient communities that can address multiple health issues.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius spoke today at a packed morning session at the Kaiser Family Foundation about the HHS Global Health Strategy, released late last year.

It’s hardly the first time the department has focused on global health, the Secretary pointed out—ticking off areas such as smallpox eradication, global health assistance programs and partnerships such as biomedical research and disease surveillance. “But most of these efforts were seen as fundamentally separate from our work to improve health here in America,” said Sebelius. “Today, we can no longer separate global health from America’s health and we need to look beyond our borders to improve health inside our country.”

Considerations that prompted the new strategy include:

• Global pandemics like the H1N1 flu have always been a threat. But today, they can spread faster and more unpredictably than ever before. “A million people drive across our borders, dock in our ports, or land in our airports every day, and any one of them could be bringing a new virus or bug with them,” said Secretary Sebelius.
• Nearly half of the fruit and over three quarters of the seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported from abroad, prompting food safety concerns.
• Many medicines are imported from abroad, often from countries with fewer safety controls than the US.
• Innovations are needed to reduce the burden of chronic disease and other countries are working on such innovations that could be valuable here in a range of areas, including lowering health costs, training more primary care providers and improving population health.

The strategy has three goals, according to Nils Daulaire, MD, MPH, Director of the HHS Office of Global Affairs:

• A focus on areas where our work abroad helps protect and promote the health and well-being of Americans such as disease surveillance and treatment research partnerships;
• Leadership in areas where HHS has special technical expertise, such as NIH research, CDC epidemiology efforts and regulation expertise at the Food and Drug Administration; and
• Partnerships within the administration to advance U.S. interests, with agencies including the State Department and USAID.

It's been an exciting year for us at NewPublicHealth! We launched in March, and nine months, nine conferences and 568 posts later, we are ready to ring in the new year.

Here's a glimpse into the inaugural year of NewPublicHealth, and the top posts by popularity.

1. Power of Health IT for Public Health: A NewPublicHealth Q&A With Farzad Mostashari. This piece was a conversation with the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), about the evolving public health informatics field.
2. Dr. Douglas Jutte: My Patient's Most Pressing Health Concern Was a Broken Carburetor. Dr. Jutte provided a personal commentary on how unmet social needs—like access to nutritious food, transportation assistance and housing assistance—were sometimes the most critical in treating his patients. (Also check out a round-up of reader responses to this post.)
3. Public Health and the Community Benefit: A NewPublicHealth Q&A With Abbey Cofsky. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires that non-profit hospitals, starting in 2012, perform a community health needs assessment, and that the assessment serve as the foundation of an implementation plan to address identified needs. NewPublicHealth spoke with Abbey Cofsky, program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, about the public health opportunities this provision offers.
4. The National Prevention Strategy: A NewPublicHealth Q&A With Surgeon General Regina Benjamin. Upon its launch, we spoke with the Surgeon General about the nation's plan for increasing the number of Americans who are healthy at every stage of life.
5. Teen Birthrates Down in U.S. But Still Lag Behind Other Developed Nations. This article looked at the April Vital Signs report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the latest stats on teen childbirth, such as, "Girls born to teen mothers are about 30% more likely to become teen mothers themselves."
6. Health Literacy: Reducing the Burden of a Complex Healthcare System. During Health Literacy Month, NewPublicHealth caught up with Linda Harris of the HHS Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and Cindy Brach of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality about federal efforts to improve health literacy and to reduce the burden of a complex healthcare system.
7. The County Health Rankings 2011: Mobilizing Action to Improve Health. NewPublicHealth's very first post announced the second annual County Health Rankings, a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute that provides a standard way for counties to see where they are doing well and where they are not so they can make changes to improve health.
8. What to Expect at the Health Data Initiative Forum: A Q&A With Todd Park. The Forum, presented by HHS and the Institute of Medicine, convened more than 500 people to showcase how health data can provide a rich seeding ground for new tools to support more informed decision-making by consumers, healthcare systems and community officials. NewPublicHealth spoke with Todd Park, Chief Technology Officer at HHS, to get his take on health innovation.
9. HHS Leading Health Indicators: Health By Some New Numbers. NewPublicHealth was on the ground at the APHA Annual Meeting covering top news, including the announcement of the latest Leading Health Indicators from HHS, a set of the top national high-priority health issues and actions that can be taken to address them.
10. Housing Policy is Health Policy: A NewPublicHealth Q&A With HUD's Raphael Bostic. Raphael Bostic of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) spoke with NewPublicHealth about the role of housing in health, and new collaborations across sectors that recognize that providing healthier, more affordable housing can lead to significant health outcomes.

Runners up included Q&As with CDC Director Thomas Frieden and Virginia Comonwealth University researcher Steven Woolf; a post on public health mobile phone apps and a commentary on the popular movie Contagion.

These were just a handful of the conversations that captured our readers' interests this year. Keep reading in 2012 for the latest in public health and new ways to prevent disease and health crises where they begin—in our communities.

Thanks for reading and for your always insightful comments. Have a happy, healthy New Year and we'll see you in 2012!

HHS Releases Millions to States to Help Cover Energy Costs for Low Income Families

The Department of Health and Human Services has released more than $845 million to states to help low-income households with their heating and home energy costs under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

Advisory Committee Recommends Hepatitis B Vaccine for Unvaccinated Adults with Diabetes

Hepatitis B vaccination is recommended for all unvaccinated adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes aged 19 to 59, according to new guidelines from the U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The committee made it recommendation based on findings that show that people with diabetes are at increased risk for Hepatitis B, which can be transmitted through minute amounts of blood from an infected person. For example, the virus can be transmitted if finger-stick devices or blood glucose monitors are shared and used by an infected person.

HUD Launches Interpreter Pilot Project for 175 Languages

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has launched the HUD Language Line, a telephone language service pilot program that will offer live, one-on-one interpretation services in more than 175 languages. The program will be accessible throughout the US and will help HUD staff better communicate with individuals and families with limited English skills about HUD programs and services. The pilot program will run through September 2012.