Public Health

Over the past 30 years, childhood obesity in the United States has increased alarmingly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 1980 just 1 in 14 children ages 6 to 11 was obese, while in 2012 that figure rose to nearly 1 in 5.

Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel The Jungle described unhygienic practices that were common across the U.S. meat industry. The public outcry following its publication spurred some of the nation’s first food safety legislation. More than a century later, the United States has made considerable progress on food safety, but foodborne illness remains a serious public health problem.

In January 2017, President Donald Trump reinstated and expanded a policy that forbids international organizations from using U.S. foreign aid to promote abortion or provide information about abortion as a form of family planning.

A requirement that middle schoolers be vaccinated against pertussis seems to protect the wider community and encourage preteens to receive other types of inoculations.