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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 11h

References for this post:

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References
* CDC. (1999, July 30). Achievements in public health, 1900-1999: control of infectious diseases. CDC MMWR Weekly, 48(29), 621-629.
* Dattani, S., Rodes-Guirao, L., Ritchie, H., Ortiz-Ospina, E., & Roser, M. (2023). Life Expectancy. Our World in Data.
* Esrey, S. A., Potash, J. B., Roberts, L., & Shiff, C. (1991). Effects of improved water supply and sanitation on ascariasis, diarrhoea, dracunculiasis, hookworm infection, schistosomiasis, and trachoma. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 69(5), 609–621.
* O'Neill, A. (2024, February 2). United States: child mortality rate 1800-2020. Statista.
* Schneider, E. B. (2022). The effect of nutritional status on historical infectious disease morbidity: evidence from the London Foundling Hospital, 1892-1919. The History of the Family, 28(2), 198–228.
* Steier, J. (2025, October 3). Why I Shower After Flying (And Why That's Not Enough). Substack.com; Unbiased Science.
* @YaleSPH x @Your_Local_Epidemiologist x @ScienceWhizLiz x @ScienceWithAnni x @DrHigginsMd x @DrScottHadland

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 11h

Layered together, public health accomplishments have led to a 30-year increase in U.S. life expectancy since 1900.

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% of U.S. children who died before their fifth birthday
1900: 24%
2020: <1%
Data source: Statista

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 11h

Together, these layers of public health lead to healthier lives and more birthdays.

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Fifth cake layer is labeled Social, economic, & environmental factors.

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 11h

Our final layer here is boosting access to nutritious food, housing, childcare, health care, and more. Each ingredient helps reduce sickness and save lives.

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 11h

Even with improved sanitation, nutrition, & treatments, people in the U.S. were still becoming infected, hospitalized, and scarred for life by the ravages of infectious diseases. Vaccines added an essential layer of protection that helped us nearly eliminate diphtheria, measles, polio, & more.

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 11h

By adding a layer of treatments and tools such as ventilators, we lower the risk of death from infectious diseases. But they can’t save everyone, and they don’t prevent infectious diseases from spreading.

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 11h

Nutrition is another layer of protection. Nutrient deficiencies weaken your immune system. In late 1800s/early 1900s London, improved nutrition did not correlate with the spread of infectious diseases, but did correlate with decreased severity of measles and mumps infections.

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 11h

Sanitation is an important base layer. Even today, improved sanitation can reduce childhood deaths by more than half (according to studies in some countries).

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 11h

Public health is like cake. Cake has layers. Public health has layers. And when we stack the layers of public health – think combining sanitation + nutrition + medical treatments + vaccines + addressing social & environmental factors that impact health – we get to enjoy more birthday cakes.

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PUBLIC HEALTH: A LAYER CAKE that leads to
more birthdays
How the layers of sanitation, nutrition, treatments, and vaccines all work together to reduce sickness and death from infectious disease —>
@YaleSPH x @Your_Local_Epidemiologist x @ScienceWhizLiz x @ScienceWithAnni x @DrHigginsMd x @DrScottHadland

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 12h

Congratulations to Yale School of Public Health alum Dr. Nabarun L. Dasgupta, PhD, MPH ’03, for being named a 2025 MacArthur Fellow, aka a “genius grant” winner: m.yale.edu/dbrp

Dasgupta combines science with community engagement in a way that lowers deaths and other afflictions from drug use.

Dr. Nabarun L. Dasgupta, PhD, MPH ’03, wins ‘genius grant’ for creative and effective harm reduction work. Photo of Dasgupta in a lab.

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 18h

The Peter Salovey and Marta Moret Data Science Fellows Program will foster a community of Ph.D. students working in interdisciplinary data science fields. Prof. Bhramar Mukherjee is one of the leaders of the new program.

Read more ⬇️
https://ow.ly/lZww50X761I

Nurturing an energized, engaged generation of data scientists

The Peter Salovey and Marta Moret Data Science Fellows Program will foster a community of Ph.D. students working in interdisciplinary data science fields.

ow.ly

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 1d

In a new study, Yale School of Medicine researchers unveiled a novel diagnostic method for detecting leptospiral virulence-modifying proteins in the blood and urine of hamsters.

Read more ⬇️
https://ow.ly/zMMt50X768L

Yale Researchers Develop Novel Test for Leptospirosis

In a new study, Yale School of Medicine researchers unveiled a novel diagnostic method for detecting leptospiral virulence-modifying proteins in the blood and

ow.ly

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 1d

"The Relentless School Nurse" @robincogan.bsky.social joins host @nelbamg.bsky.social on today's episode of #SharedHumanity.

Listen to or watch the full episode: sph.yale.edu/SharedHumanity

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 1d

As the nation grapples with ongoing gun violence, Dean Megan Ranney MD MPH is researching and advocating for innovative approaches to address this epidemic. Dean Ranney delivered the 2025 Woodson Lecture at the University of Louisville SPHIS.

Read more ⬇️
https://ow.ly/15Wf50X75Uk

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 2d

A research partnership between residents in East Palestine, Ohio and Dr. Nicole Deziel, PhD, MHS; the evolution of gene expression; one reason hospital prices rise, and more research highlights.

Read more in our latest issue of Science & Society ⬇️
m.yale.edu/dbjm

Advances September 2025

A research partnership between residents in East Palestine, Ohio and Dr. Nicole Deziel, PhD, MHS; the evolution of gene expression; one reason hospital prices

ysph.yale.edu

Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 2d

Prof. Mark Schlesinger shares tips on what people can do to avoid potential hospital mistakes.

"Always have a list of medications with you," Schlesinger says among other recommendations. Read more ⬇️
https://ow.ly/wJ3v50X75cE

Maryland hospitals see rise in medical errors, report calls it a pandemic 'after effect'

The authors of a Maryland Department of Health report call medical errors at hospitals a "trend" and state the repeated rise in the reporting of medical mistake

ow.ly

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 3d

Prof. Jeannette Ickovics discusses a new report laying out steps that could save money and 700,000 lives.

Read more ⬇️
https://ysph.yale.edu/news-article/want-to-cut-health-care-costs-by-dollar70-billion-take-urban-climate-action/

Want to cut health care costs by $70 billion? Take urban climate action

Yale School of Public Health Professor Dr. Jeannette Ickovics, PhD, discusses a new report laying out steps that could save money and 700,000 lives.

ysph.yale.edu

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 3d

Students are facing real-life public health problems at the Yale School of Public Health this fall thanks to a new course built around case studies of how organizations are tackling current challenges.

Read more in the latest edition of our Science & Society magazine: m.yale.edu/dbcz

The real world comes to class A new YSPH course equips students to think strategically. Photo of KP Yelpaala teaching. Read more in our latest issue of Science & Society

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 6d

Health policy doesn’t usually grow in a Petri dish, but two initiatives at the Yale School of Public Health have developed innovative approaches for studying public health up close and translating the school’s research into community impact across CT: m.yale.edu/dbch

Thinking beyond the possible: How YSPH is shaping public health policy
Photo of Chima Ndumele, Shelly Geballe, and Jacob Wallace

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 7d

Prof. Jason L. Schwartz shares his insights on the latest guidance on COVID boosters, flu shots, childhood immunizations, and more. ⬇️
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/well/vaccines-covid-flu-mmrv-autism.html

Everything You Need to Know About Vaccines in 2025

It can be hard to sort through the conflicting and evolving information about vaccines. Here’s the latest guidance on Covid boosters, flu shots, childhood immunizations and more.

www.nytimes.com

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 8d

Opportunity was the focus of Dean @meganranney.bsky.social's address to the Yale School of Public Health community at our recent 2025 State of the School.

Read more in the latest edition of our Science & Society Magazine: m.yale.edu/dbcx

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 9d

How do we know if kids are getting vaccinated on time?

We can track vaccination with a few different data sources — and each one tells a different part of the story.

🔍 Explore the data for yourself, and view rates in your state, on PopHIVE: pophive.org

2 Ways to Track Childhood Vaccination in the U.S. 📊
NIS + SchoolVaxView = a fuller picture of coverage

Graph shows vaccine uptake by insurance status by state, data source: National Immunization Survey
👶 The National Immunization Survey (NIS):
* Tracks kids before school
(up to age 3)
* Data shows insurance status + where families live

Map shows vaccine uptake by state, data source: CDCSchoolVaxView
🏫 SchoolVaxView:
* Tracks kids at school entry (kindergarten, ~age 5)
* Data collected through schools, aggregated by states

Image of PopHIVE website, which says “We’re on a mission to reimagine health data for all.” A fuller picture = better decisions
Use both NIS + SchoolVaxView to track coverage, spot gaps, and strengthen protection for kids.
🔍 Explore both datasets at PopHIVE.org

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 10d

“That day we realized what our lab meant to people. We were a symbol of resistance, a symbol of hope,” Nathaniel Raymond said.

Hundreds of individual donors rescued @hrl-yalesph.bsky.social from closure, highlighting the urgent need for restored federal science funding: m.yale.edu/dbc3

For Humanitarian Research Lab—a Dunkirk moment

Hundreds of individual donors rescue YSPH lab from closure.
Stopgap measure highlights urgent need for restored federal science funding.

Photo of Nathaniel Raymond testifying. Read more in our latest issue of Science & Society

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 13d

JUST IN: Our latest edition of Science & Society Magazine is here. 📚

Learn about how we're shaping public health policy, closing the communication gap, educating future public health leaders, creating research partnerships, and more ➡️ m.yale.edu/dbcv

Scienve & Society September 2025 Yale School of Public Health Thinking Beyond the Possible Shaping public health policy. Photo of CT state capitol and illustration of people behind it.

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Yale School of Public Health @yalesph.bsky.social · 13d

The typically orderly process of setting annual public health guidelines for vaccines has been anything but this year.

We spoke to Prof. @jasonlschwartz.bsky.social about what you need to know about this year's COVID vaccines & what happened at the recent ACIP meeting: m.yale.edu/dbcq.

Wondering whether you’re eligible to get a COVID vaccine this fall and if your insurance will pay for it? You’re not alone.

We talked to Prof. Jason L. Schwartz, an expert on U.S. vaccine policy, to answer your questions about the new COVID vaccine guidelines and what happened at last week’s CDC vaccine advisory meeting.

(TL;DR: most people should be able to get a
COVID vaccine at a pharmacy at no cost)
September 2025 | 1/8
Yale School of Public Health

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