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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Environmental health

Facing Unique Challenges, Rural Communities Find Unique Solutions to Protect Against Wildfire Smoke Exposure
Discusses the impact of wildfire smoke on health and describes efforts in rural Idaho, Nevada, and Washington to address air quality concerns.
Author(s): Gretel Kauffman
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 02/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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The State of Health in Tennessee: 2023 Annual Report to the 113th Tennessee General Assembly
Provides a comprehensive overview of health in Tennessee, including health outcomes of individuals and information on the health of the state's healthcare system. Includes statistics on rural hospitals that have closed in recent years, and those at risk of closure as of 2022. Features county-level maps showing Health Professional Shortage Areas.
Date: 01/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Tennessee Department of Health
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Ohio Health Value Dashboard: A Closer Look at Outdoor Air Pollution and Health
Discusses the causes of air pollution in Ohio and the impact of air quality on population and individual health. Examines air pollution exposure by race/ethnicity and county. Provides suggestions for policies that can improve air quality and population health.
Date: 01/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health Policy Institute of Ohio
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U.S. Department of Agriculture Equity Action Plan 2023 Update
Offers overview of 7 equity strategies from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) including promoting rural prosperity, access to USDA programs, nutrition security, wildfire prevention, increasing access to federal funding, tribal sovereignty, civil rights enforcement, and more. Highlights equity progress updates and accomplishments. Discusses rural throughout.
Date: 2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Agriculture
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The Fifth National Climate Assessment
Report outlining the impacts of climate change in the U.S., discussing impacts to both the physical earth as well as society, economics, and health sectors. Offers a look at both national topics of interest as well as the current and future risks at a regional level. Chapter 11 addresses agriculture, food systems, and rural concerns. Chapter 16 addresses Indigenous Peoples.
Date: 2023
Type: Website
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Global Change Research Program
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Communities, Climate Change, and Health Equity: Lessons Learned in Addressing Inequities in Heat-Related Climate Change Impacts: Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief
Summary of a National Academies' Environmental Health Matters Initiative workshop in June 2023 discussing health equity for heat-related climate change. Highlights challenges with data gathering, recent policy changes, capacity building, and partnerships. Includes discussion of rural specific challenges, occupational health for farmworkers and other outdoor workers, and healthcare access.
Additional links: Read Online
Date: 2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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The Occurrence of Bone and Joint Cancers and Their Association with Rural Living and Radon Exposure in Iowa
Examines primary bone and joint cancers between 1975 and 2016 to understand long-term changes in their occurrence. Utilizes the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to focus on cancer occurrence in Iowa and the related correlation between cancers and rural populations, farmland size, and residential radon levels. Includes demographic data of Iowa regions and their corresponding age-adjusted incidence (AAIR) and mortality (AAMR) rates.
Author(s): Jonathan D. Nilles, Dooyoung Lim, Michael P. Boyer, et al.
Citation: Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 45(3), 925-940
Date: 2023
Type: Document
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Emergency Department Visits for Diagnoses Directly Indicating Heat Exposure: Variation Across Counties in the United States, 2016–2020
Provides statistics on emergency department (ED) visits from 2016 to 2020 due to heat exposure. Provides data by rural, micropolitan, small and medium metro, and large metro county and includes U.S. maps showing concentration areas of ED visits as well as state-by-state data of ED visits.
Author(s): PL Owens, ML Barrett, KW McDermott
Date: 12/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
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Advancing Environmental Health and Justice: A Call for Assessment and Oversight of Health Care Waste
Addresses the impact on humans resulting from healthcare waste that is processed, incinerated or transported to landfills. Discusses the inequities that occur with transport and waste sites that disproportionately harm communities of low-income and/or of color in urban and rural areas. Highlights evidence-based strategies and advocacy efforts for public health officials to support when developing solutions to reduce healthcare waste hazards and their effect on humans in rural and urban healthcare systems.
Date: 11/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Public Health Association
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Remotely Sensed Measures of Hurricane Michael Damage and Adverse Perinatal Outcomes and Access to Prenatal Care Services in the Florida Panhandle
Examines the damage caused by Hurricane Michael in 2018 on residential buildings in the predominantly rural Florida panhandle and the relationship to adverse perinatal outcomes and access to prenatal care (PNC) services in this population. Compares aerial photography of building damage to 8,965 women's geocoded addresses, utilizing data from the Florida Department of Health's Office of Vital Statistics. Includes demographic information of women giving birth in high risk/damaged areas and the related associations to perinatal outcomes and access to PNC services.
Author(s): Ke Pan, Elaina Gonsoroski, Christopher K. Uejio, et al.
Citation: Environmental Health, 21, 118
Date: 11/2022
Type: Document
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