California has improved access to health care for children in recent years, but still lags behind many other states in terms of the overall well-being of kids, a new report finds.
On June 15, the state legislature voted to spend $5 million to create a gun violence research center, which will work to understand the public health problem in the hopes of preventing deaths. It will be the first center of its kind in the country.
With Latinos now the largest ethnic population in California, the spotlight on Latino aging is shining ever brighter, and with it exposure to a topic rarely discussed: worsening rates of cognitive decline.
The rates of the most common sexually transmitted diseases – chlamydia and gonorrhea – have risen over the last five years in California, particularly among men, and particularly in the case of gonorrhea, and even in counties that have made a concerted effort to reduce the number of infections.
Californians who purchase their own health insurance spent less on health care in the first year of the Affordable Care Act’s full implementation, showing that the federal law has had an effect, a new report finds.
Teenagers need more sleep than adults, and early start times for school aren’t helping. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently began to advocate for starting high school at 8:30 a.m. in hopes of better meeting students’ sleep needs. This could also help combat depression, reduce car accidents and help with other health problems that can arise from insufficient sleep, the Academy said.
California’s day programs for adults with autism are underfunded and overcrowded. But with thousands of young people with developmental delays or disabilities about to reach the age at which they can no longer attend a public school, the problem is soon going to get much, much worse.
So far, no one has contracted Zika in California — but some travelers have returned to the state already infected. Epidemiologists say that it’s possible the virus could take hold in pockets of the state, if certain mosquitoes bite those with Zika infections, but the likelihood of a widespread epidemic is low.
The Central Valley has long been plagued with some of the dirtiest air in the nation. It usually hits those with the most vulnerable lungs the hardest, including elementary school-age kids with asthma.
California’s End of Life Option Act takes effect today, allowing doctors to prescribe life-ending drugs for terminally ill patients who must meet strict guidelines and follow lengthy procedures before taking the medicine themselves. The law is the culmination of decades of efforts that peaked when Brittany Maynard moved from California to Oregon, where she availed herself of a similar law just before her 30th birthday in 2014.