Urban food deserts – areas where people have low or no access to food shops – exist in major cities, according to research published in the open access publication International Journal of Health Geographics, with important implications for public health policies.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) are wagging a finger at currently held notions about the way digits are formed.

A growing divide exists within the public health service in Sweden according to the annual report from the National Board of Health and Welfare.

Nurses won't be making home visits to their homebound patients anymore, and operating rooms at San Francisco General Hospital will be closed eight hours a day. Those are just two effects of the city Health Commission's Tuesday night budget slashing, described by the Department of Public Health as the deepest cuts officials have ever seen.

The National Sleep Foundation says Americans are not getting enough rest and work may be the main impediment.

Argentinians planning to travel to the northern part of the country, Brazil and Paraguay were lining up for vaccinations Tuesday, because of a yellow fever breakout that has killed at least 21 people in the region.

Delaware's Division of Public Health reported 323 flu cases during the first full week of February. From the beginning of October through the end of January, there were about 200 reported cases.

The Harvard School of Public Health and Harris Interactive have conducted a poll over the issue of Socialized Medicine. More than 2,000 people were asked their opinion about this kind of health care. The results are dubious.

With emerging diseases like the West Nile Virus, and re-emerging diseases such as the pandemic flu and drug-resistant tuberculosis, it’s increasingly important to promptly detect a potential infectious outbreak within a community. But public health officials can’t act quickly unless physicians report the diseases.

Public health departments that staff disease-reporting hotlines with live operators at all times are more likely to meet federal guidelines designed to help stop the spread of infectious diseases, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) urged residents today to kick off 2008 with a New Year’s resolution that could save their lives in the face of a public health emergency. Emergencies can affect anyone at any time, and having a plan in place and supplies available can make all the difference in coping with the situation.

President Bush has signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2007 (H.R. 2764), which includes a provision directing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to provide the public with open online access to findings from its funded research.