Public Health

Minnesota implemented the first statewide smoking ban in 1975, and since then, 30 other states and more than 350 cities and towns have enacted restrictions. A meta-study by the Institute of Medicine indicates that the health benefits of such legislation are both immediate and significant.

The U.S. health care reform effort has centered on how to increase access and contain costs. What gets less attention is the quality of treatment American’s receive. Is it “the best care in the world” or is there work to be done?

In the United States, racial minorities tend to experience poorer health compared to their white counterparts. For example, the death rate for all cancers is 30% higher for African Americans than it is for whites, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hispanics are almost twice as likely as non-Hispanic whites to die from diabetes.

Prompted by deepening concerns over poverty and global inequality, the U.N. General Assembly in 2000 adopted the Millennium Development Declaration, putting forward a series of goals which were meant to be achieved by 2015. Core issues included improving global health, including reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases.