Health Wanted: Americans' Public Health Priorities
HEALTH WANTED, a weekly radio show and podcast produced in partnership with WABE, brings need-to-know public health headlines and breaks down the science behind trending topics.
The Episode
The topic: As the nation grapples with ongoing health challenges, a new poll reveals what Americans think should be the government's top priorities in public health. This week on Health Wanted, host Laurel Bristow and guest Stephen Patrick, MD, go over the country’s top public health concerns and how they rank against others.
The takeaway: A recent poll revealed what Americans think are the most important public health topics for the government to address. While some rankings aligned with recent events, others were more surprising in their placement on the list.
- In a December 2024 poll conducted by Rollins and opinion polling company Gallup, respondents ranked fourteen public health topics based on how much priority they believed current government leaders should give them. The survey was sent to a nationally representative group of participants, varying in age, race, gender, and education.
- The top three priorities for respondents were improving health care access and affordability, reducing chronic disease, and ensuring safe water and food. These concerns reflect the ongoing challenges many face in accessing necessary care and the growing burden of preventable health conditions.
- The lowest-ranked topics included reducing loneliness and social isolation, issues surrounding climate change, improving health in rural communities, maternal health care, and childhood vaccination. The low ranking of climate change and maternal health care is especially concerning, as climate change has many long-term health risks,and the U.S. has the highest maternal death rate of any high-income country.
- Preventing childhood deaths from gun violence and preparing for emerging infectious diseases ranked in the middle. Gun violence is a serious public health concern; in 2022, gun violence was the leading cause of death in kids between the ages of 1 and 17. The middle concern with emerging infectious diseases is notable, especially with ongoing concerns about bird flu and the recent history of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Interview
The guest: Stephen Patrick, MD
The key takeaways:
- Survey respondents across all political affiliations ranked public health issues, such as the opioid crisis and mental health, as highly important. Many also believed that the federal government should address these challenges, recognizing that large-scale solutions are often needed to tackle widespread public health problems effectively.
- Surveys like the Gallup poll provide valuable insights into public priorities, helping both researchers and policymakers understand what issues matter most to the nation. They can guide public health strategies and ensure that the government is aware of the concerns of its citizens.
- How people rank health issues tends to differ based on their personal experiences. Issues that are more likely to directly affect an individual’s life or family, such as opioid abuse or local school safety, often feel more urgent compared to global or abstract concerns like climate change.
- Health professionals must work harder to meet people where they are. This is especially true for younger people, many of whom turn to social media for guidance, which can provide inaccurate information. Using clear, accessible language and engaging content can improve health communication and increase trust in public health messages.
The Listener Questions
Is it possible to have never gotten COVID-19?
Anything is possible! You could ahve gotten a subclinical infection (one that has viral replication but is not detectable on the tests you were using), and not have shown any symptoms. You also might have gotten a very light infection at some point after you stopped testing regularly.
It is hard to say with 100% certainty that you’ve never had COVID-19, but there does seem to be a subcategory of people who have never had a verifiable case. We lovingly call them “NOVIDS.”
It’s not entirely clear why some people don’t get it, but a small challenge study attempting to intentionally infect 36 people who had never had COVID with an early strain found that a few of these people still didn’t get sick. These people had elevated activity in a gene called HLA-DQA2, which is found in specialized immune cells.
It’s possible that you might be part of this subset of people who are genetically predisposed to resist COVID-19 infections. However, it was a very small study and it would be hard to confirm in a larger setting because there are now more people who have had COVID than who have not.
How can I stay healthy on a cruise vacation?
Statistically speaking, your risk of illness on a cruise is probably not much higher than in other areas of life. We just have a better system of reporting it on cruises.
The number one concern is illnesses, because those can spread rapidly in close quarters. Gastrointestinal (GI) illnesses are an issue on cruises (last year was the highest incidence of GI illness in a decade).
This includes things like the dreaded norovirus. To protect yourself, use common sense practices like hand-washing. Norovirus can stay on surfaces for several days to weeks and a very small amount can be infectious. Plus, hand sanitizer does not kill norovirus as effectively as soap, water, and friction. Be serious about hand-washing and use a paper towel when touching common surfaces in shared bathrooms like door handles and faucets.
COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses can and do happen on cruises. If you’re taking a summer cruise, hopefully rates will be low. You can spend the majority of your time outdoors or in places with open windows to limit your risk even further if you aren’t going to wear a mask in crowded areas.
The CDC inspects the water systems, medical center, galley and dining rooms, children’s activity centers, pools, and HVAC systems on cruise ships. If you want to take it that extra mile you can actually look up your ship’s inspection history and grading by the CDC on their vessel sanitation program website.
Catch all the listener questions and Laurel’s answers on the full episode of Health Wanted by:
- Streaming at wabe.org or the WABE app
- Subscribing on Apple or Spotify
- Watching on WABE's YouTube channel
