How the APHA Maternal and Child Health Section Advanced the Public Health Approach to Gun Violence Prevention.

Purpose: This manuscript provides a history of efforts by the American Public Health Association (APHA) Maternal and Child Health Section (MCH Section) Gun Violence Prevention Workgroup (GVP Workgroup) to promote gun violence prevention (GVP) as a key public health priority both within the MCH Section and APHA, and nationally.

Description: The MCH Section established a gun violence prevention workgroup in response to the murders of twenty first-grade children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. This article presents an overview of the accomplishments and challenges of the MCH Section GVP Workgroup in a context of ever-increasing gun violence.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Pregnant Women and Children: Recommendations for Health Promotion.

COVID-19 continues to have severe repercussions on children and pregnant women. The repercussions include not only the direct impact of COVID-19 (ie, children getting infected by COVID-19) but also indirect impacts (eg, safeguarding from child maltreatment, obesogenic behaviors, language and socioemotional development, educational consequences [eg, interrupted learning]; social isolation; mental health; behavioral health [eg, increased substance use in adolescence]; health and economic impact of COVID-19 on caregivers and family relationships. It has also shed light on long-standing structural and socioeconomic issues, including equity in nutrition and food security, housing, childcare, and internet access.

Impact of inguinal hernia repair on family and other informal caregivers.

Hypothesis: Inguinal hernia significantly affects family and other informal caregivers, and hernia repair will significantly reduce caregiver burden.

Methods: We analyzed data from a Veterans Affairs Cooperative Study with mixed models to compare the level of burden among caregivers of inguinal hernia patients from preoperative measurement to measurement at 2 weeks and at 3 months postoperatively.

Results: Most caregivers were wives (73%) and lived with the patients (88%).