News

World Mental Health Day is approaching. Observed on October 10th every year, the day is meant to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilize efforts in support of mental health. This is an opportunity for all of us to talk about mental health issues through a public platform, and what more needs to be done to provide access to mental health care for people worldwide.

Globally, more than 300 million people suffer from depression. Depression and anxiety disorders are common mental disorders that have an impact on our ability to lead our lives and interact with others. In addition to these staggering numbers, more than 260 million are living with anxiety disorders. Many people live with both.

Mental health is a serious issue for everyone. So this October 10th, Outspeak is running content designed to give you the information you need to have a healthy understanding of the issues facing mental health and mental health care in America.

Because mental health is a deeply personal issue, Outspeak wants to hear from you. They want to know what improvements you’d like to see in mental health care, success stories, personal stories of struggle, the benefits of mental health care, and everything in between.

If you currently have a video, or are interested in creating one related to World Mental Health Day, send it to Outspeak via Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #WMHDay. Or email your submissions to social@outspeak.tv.

Your video has the opportunity to be featured on HuffPost’s massive social media pages, on Outspeak’s social media, and you have the chance to be featured in an article onHuffPost.com. For an example of how these features look, check out Outspeak’s recent #YourVoteYourVoice election campaign.

Learn more at HuffPost.com

September 27, 2017, National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day(NGMHAAD) is a chance to communicate about HIV in this community and the important and longstanding role that gay men have had in addressing the HIV epidemic in our nation.

To support your work around NGMHAAD, here’s a select list of resources for digital and traditional communication.

HIV Testing

This suite of HIV.gov resources promotes knowledge of one’s HIV status and access to related services:

• The HIV Testing Sites & Care Services Locator is a tool that allows you to search for testing services, housing providers, health centers and other service providers near your current location. Apps for the locator are available in the iTunes store and on Google Play .
• Webmasters can embed the HIV.gov widget in your sites.
• This shareable video about the Locator shows how health and social support providers can use this tool to talk with people at risk for HIV and those who are living with HIV.
• Succinct explanations of HIV testing, prevention and care and related issues are available in this HIV.gov basics section.

Personal Stories

This observance is a chance to spur conversation that build individual awareness of HIV, encourage knowledge of one’s HIV status and support engagement in prevention and care. For these conversations, HIV.org offers ready-to-go digital stories:

The Positive Spin videos and microsite feature the personal experiences of five HIV-positive, gay Black men who have successfully navigated the HIV care continuum from diagnosis to treatment and, ultimately, to viral suppression.

HIV.org also recommends the videos from the Doing It campaign from the CDC’s Act Against AIDS initiative.

Social Media

The hashtag #NGMHAAD connects you to the conversation on social media. If you have a story to share related to this observance, use the hashtag #mypositivespin  and #NGMHAAD . Here is a short list of federal social media platforms to follow and like:

Twitter:

• @HIVgov 
• @CDC_HIV/AIDS
• @DrMerminCDC
• @talkHIV 
• @HRSAgov

Facebook:

• HIV.gov
• CDC HIV
• HRSAgov

Visuals

Both HIV.gov and CDC have NGMHAAD visuals for your use. HIV.gov has the logo for the day and more on our NGMHAAD resource page. CDC has banners, social media images, and other graphics ready for your use.

Be Informed

If you want more information about the historic contributions of gay men to the fight against HIV, check HIV.gov’s timeline of HIV and AIDS.

Members of the public—including individuals, stakeholders, and organizations—are invited to provide comments on the proposed Healthy People 2030 framework for consideration by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The framework will guide the selection and prioritization of objectives for Healthy People 2030.

This round of public comment will be open until September 29, 2017 at 5:00 p.m. E.T.

If you would like to submit a comment, please register or log in. You may review comments without registering. Submit a Comment.

You may comment on individual sections or leave a general comment on the entire framework. Review the draft framework.

Comments should be clear, concise, and specific to the proposed concepts and language. All comments will be moderated. Only comments that meet the guidelines below will be published.

Public comment is an essential part of the multiyear development process for Healthy People 2030. HHS will carefully review the comments received during this public comment period and they will inform the final version of the Healthy People 2030 framework.

Please note: HHS is not accepting proposals for objectives to be included in Healthy People 2030 at this point. The public will be invited to comment on proposed objectives in the future.

The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) maintains an online public comment database for the purpose of facilitating public input and participation in the development of our programs. All submitted comments are reviewed prior to being published online and should adhere to the following guidelines:

1. Comments must be related to the stated purpose of the request. Public comments are requested for specific purposes, which are stated at the top of online comment collection forms. Comments unrelated to the stated purpose will not be published.
2. Comments must be suitable for online publication. Comments that contain profanity, inappropriate images, copyrighted materials, or that are intended to defame specific individuals (i.e., slander or libel) or groups of individuals (i.e., derogatory or discriminatory remarks) will not be published.
3. Comments must not contain information that is exempt from public disclosure. Public availability of comments is subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). FOIA exempts certain types of information from public disclosure. Comments that contain information that is exempt under FOIA will not be published. visit: https://www.foia.gov/faq.html#exemptions.

Learn more at HealthyPeople.gov or email HP2030@hhs.gov with any questions about public comment.

The Disparities Leadership Program (DLP) is a year-long, hands-on executive education program focused exclusively on helping health care leaders achieve equity in quality. The program is designed to help you translate the latest understanding disparities into realistic solutions you can adopt within your organization.

The DLP aims to create leaders prepared to meet the challenges of health care transformation by improving quality for at-risk populations who experience disparities. The program has three main goals:

• To arm health care leaders with a rich understanding of the causes of disparities and the vision to implement solutions and transform their organization deliver high-value health care. Solutions are specifically focused on identifying disparities impacting the quality and value of care within high-cost, high-risk areas such as preventing readmissions and avoidable hospitalizations; improving patient safety and experience; and excelling in population health.
• To help leaders create strategic plans or projects to advance their work in reducing disparities in a customized way, with practical benefits tailored to every organization.
• To align the goals of health equity with health care reform and value-based purchasing. We support the organizational changes necessary to respond to national movements including health care reform, value-based purchasing, as well as exceeding quality standards (such as the CLAS standards) and meeting regulations (such as those from the Joint Commission, the National Committee for Quality Assurance, and the National Quality Forum).

The Disparities Solution Center (DSC) has the unique advantage of eleven years of experience developing, coordinating and operating the DLP, the only program of its kind in the nation. To date, the DLP has trained eleven cohorts that include a total of 378 participants from 172 organizations (89 hospitals, 41 health plans, 20 community health organizations, 5 professional organizations, 2 hospital trade organizations, 1 school of medicine, 2 dental benefits administrators, 1 federal government agency, 1 state government agency, 1 city government agency, and 9 others) representing 32 states, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Canada and Switzerland. 

Deadline to submit Intent to Apply (recommended but not required) is November 17, 2017.

Read more on MGHDisparitiessolutions.org.

New research suggests that Latino children are more likely to suffer from depression and other mental health illnesses, but only 8 percent of Latinos say their child has received mental health services. Latino youth are depressed at a higher rate than any minority besides Native Americans, according to the Salud America! network at UT Health San Antonio.

Low response or desire to seek therapy can lead to greater chances that these conditions will go untreated over the course of a person’s lifetime. From language barriers to economic hardship, social factors can be a significant contributor to emotional stressors affecting children in the home and in school.

More than 17 percent of Latino students surveyed report being bullied. Thoughts of suicide are up to 8 times higher for Latino students, who say they feel less connected or lack communication with their families. 

Fortunately, several solutions are emerging, according to the research:

• Latino children have less stress and more classroom success in programs that mix regular physical activity with mental health education.
• Community-based, cultural interventions have shown promise in improving Latino children’s access to mental health care.
• School-based bullying prevention programs can decrease bullying by up to 25 percent.

“Despite the high rate of mental health issues faced by Latino children, disparities persist in how they use and receive mental health services,” said Amelie G. Ramirez, Dr.P.H., lead author of the research review. She is the director of Salud America! and the Institute for Health Promotion Research in the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio.

Read more on TPR.org. Read more on News.UTHSCSA.edu.

The prevalence of cigarette smoking among adults is now at a modern low of 15 percent, and youth rates are also down for high school seniors, with only 3.4 percent smoking daily. Yet this is not a time to become complacent and move on to other public health problems. As many as 40 million people still smoke, and half of them will die prematurely as a result. Furthermore, smoking rates remain high among the most vulnerable populations, such as people with mental illnesses or substance use disorders, necessitating policies and strategies targeted specifically at them, as well as support for tobacco control at the federal, state, and local levels.

Smoking rates have declined much faster among prosperous, well-educated people than they have among the less fortunate. As a result, smoking is now concentrated among special populations: People with mental illnesses have smoking rates that range from 30 percent to more than 50 percent, depending on the specific diagnosis. People with substance use disorders have even higher rates—from about 50 percent for those who abuse alcohol to more than 77 percent for those who abuse heroin. The LGBTQ populations, people with less education, prisoners, and homeless people also have smoking rates that are higher, sometimes much higher, than the overall population’s rate. Yet these special populations are a part of that general population. Excluding them would bring the population smoking rate closer to 10 percent.

Addressing smoking among vulnerable populations requires motivating and engaging the clinical, governmental, and advocacy organizations that serve those clients. This involves challenging several erroneous but deeply ingrained myths, such as the beliefs that individuals with a chronic mental illness do not want to quit smoking, are unable to, rely on smoking to treat their underlying disease, or do not suffer much damage from smoking. The Smoking Cessation Leadership Center at the University of California, San Francisco, has been working collaboratively with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to hold leadership academies in 15 different states to create a plan to drive down smoking rates among people with mental illnesses or substance use disorders. In addition, the center has worked with clinical organizations such as the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Psychological Association, advocacy groups such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and consortiums such as the National Council for Behavioral Health to accomplish those goals. A recent collaboration with the American Cancer Society has engaged multiple organizations to create a national roundtable on behavioral health and tobacco use.

Although it is premature to assess the effectiveness of these efforts, over the past few years smoking among people with behavioral health conditions has declined at a faster rate than for the general population, although it is still at a much higher level.

Read more on HealthAffairs.org.