Viewpoints: The Health Implications Of Trump’s Immigration Policy; Medicine And Science Benefit From Diversity

Stat: Trump Should Consider The Health Consequences Of Immigration Policy
We asked this question: Could removing the uncertainty around deportation reduce psychological distress among undocumented immigrants? To answer it, we analyzed data from the US National Health Interview Study, comparing mental health outcomes before and after DACA was signed among non-citizen Latinos and Latinas who met the age eligibility criteria for DACA and among those who did not. Our findings, recently published in Lancet Public Health, were striking. Implementation of the DACA program reduced rates of moderate to severe psychological distress among eligible individuals by nearly 40 percent. This is a remarkable finding, considering that DACA did not grant amnesty for these individuals. (Atheendar S. Venkataramani, Sachin Shah and Alexander Tsai, 4/24)

Stat: In Science And Medicine, Diversity Shouldn't Be Optional
The debate about whether to advocate for diversity within the March for Science is emblematic of the burdens placed on women and minorities in the scientific workforce at large. We are expected to advocate on behalf of a community that simultaneously makes us feel undervalued and requires us to continually prove our existence. For example, both women and minorities are less likely to be granted funding from the National Institutes for Health, whose budget is expected to be hard hit by the Trump administration. (Altaf Saadi, 4/24)

Miami Herald: Let’s Work Across Borders To Fight Mosquito-Borne Disease
Diseases don’t stop at borders. On World Malaria Day, we take note that mosquito-borne diseases pose serious threats around the world. Without continued leadership from the United States, diseases like Zika and malaria will weaken public health throughout the Americas, including in the United States. The United States has been a leader in advancing global health, but recent policy recommendations will erode efforts to combat these threats. As a public health physician, former policymaker, and president of a comprehensive research university, I find these shifts of growing concern. (Julio Frenk, 4/24)

Bloomberg: Stepping Up The Fight Against Opioid Addiction
Efforts to control the epidemic abound, such as new national prescribing guidelines for doctors, more state drug courts and increased access to addiction treatment. But opioids are extraordinarily addictive, and the pattern of abuse is shifting: Many people who became hooked on prescription opioids go on to use heroin, or worse, illicit fentanyl, which is many times as potent. Fentanyl overdose, which can occur almost instantaneously when the drug is taken, is mainly what’s driving the death rate skyward. (4/24)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Crack Down On Violent Crime
Thanks to state Sen. Leah Vukmir and state Rep. Joe Sanfelippo, legislation providing greater consequences to young offenders has been introduced in the Legislature... Quite frankly, why should a young person be in possession of a firearm unless out hunting with his or her family? (Mark Borkowski, 4/24)

The Des Moines Register: Lawmakers Rightly Dismiss Medical Board Members
Republicans had healthy majorities in the Iowa Legislature this year. Democrats could do little to stop the majority party from busting unions for public employees, expanding gun laws, underfunding schools, approving unprecedented restrictions on abortion, and wreacking other havoc on this state that will be felt for years to come. Democrats did, however, score one victory last week. With urging from Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, they rightly refused to reconfirm two of Gov. Terry Branstad’s appointments to the Iowa Board of Medicine. (4/24)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Democrats Form Circular Firing Squad Over Abortion Rights
An election campaign for, of all things, mayor of Omaha, Neb., is focusing attention on a major problem for the national Democratic Party. Republicans should be delighted. Democrats should be worried. At issue: How ideologically pure must Democratic candidates be? Specifically, can a candidate be opposed to abortion rights and still expect support from the national party? Or should the party’s principal focus be economic populism with everything else — abortion, guns, immigration, gay rights, etc. — subject to the “agree to disagree” rule? (4/23)

The Washington Post: Washington’s VA Hospital Is Sick. What About The Rest Of The Country?
It did not take long for the inspector general of the Department of Veterans Affairs to figure out there was something seriously wrong with conditions at the VA medical center in the District. He also quickly determined that senior VA officials had long been aware of some of the problems and so could not be trusted to fix them. That the inspector general issued a rare, urgent warning about the risks posed to patients underscores the deep-seated issues still confronting the department entrusted with taking care of the men and women who have fought for their country. (4/24)

The Des Moines Register: Does It Take Threats For Lawmakers To Fix Water Quality?
The failure to establish, for a second year in a row, a significant state commitment to water quality raises the question of whether it was only the Des Moines Water Works lawsuit that put the issue on lawmakers’ agenda. (Kathie Obradovich, 4/24)