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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Wellness, health promotion, and disease prevention

Exploring Strategies to Improve Health and Equity in Rural Communities
Identifies the strengths and assets of rural communities, key partners, change agents, and opportunities to leverage assets to improve rural health and equity through a national forum of over 400 national and regional cross-sector stakeholders. Findings were organized into 4 categories: individual assets, organizational assets, community assets, and cultural assets. Includes discussion on challenges and opportunities for action for each asset category.
Additional links: Leveraging Culture and History to Improve Health and Equity in Rural Communities, Recommendations for Philanthropies and Government Agencies to Improve Health and Equity in Rural Communities, Supporting Change Agents Across Sectors to Improve Health and Equity in Rural Communities
Author(s): Michael Meit
Date: 02/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
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Remarks of Commissioner Mignon Clyburn (as prepared): National Rural Health Association
Statement given at the February 2018 National Rural Health Association (NRHA) Policy Institute. Discusses the goals of the Connect2Health Task Force: to understand the future interplay of broadband, technology, and health policy and to ensure the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) stays ahead of the innovation curve. Highlights the FCC's focus of broadband deployment to provide a foundation for health and describes a broadband-enabled project in Appalachian Kentucky created to provide healthcare services to cancer patients.
Author(s): Mignon Clyburn
Date: 02/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Federal Communications Commission
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Navajo Wellness Model: Keeping the Cultural Teachings Alive to Improve Health
Describes a wellness model curriculum developed by the Navajo Area Indian Health Service along with cultural experts and traditional healers to increase health literacy and self-management in healthcare and public health settings. The curriculum uses traditional Navajo methods of teaching healthy behaviors and is designed to improve the knowledge and understanding of healthcare and public health providers on Navajo values about health within the family, community, and environment.
Author(s): Marie Nelson
Date: 01/2018
Type: Document
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Scaling up HCV Prevention and Treatment Interventions in Rural USA – Model Projections for Tackling an Increasing Epidemic
Highlights a study on the rise in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in rural people who inject drugs (PWID) and the necessary interventions to reduce HCV outbreaks in rural communities. Focuses on a rural county in Indiana and evaluates the medication-assisted treatment (MAT) efficacy, syringe-services program (SSP) efficacy, and the PWID population size of the intervention, among other factors.
Author(s): Hannah Fraser, Jon Zibbell, Thomas Hoerger, et al.
Citation: Addiction, 113(1), 173-182
Date: 01/2018
Type: Document
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Creating a Culture of Health in Rural West Virginia: State Rural Health Plan 2018-2022
Presents a state plan representing the vision and goals for the health and well-being of people in rural West Virginia as identified by healthcare advocates within the state. Key health conditions and health indicators are discussed, including behavioral health, cardiovascular disease, lung disease, obesity, and social determinants of health. Priorities to support positive change are focused on improvements in the following areas: access to healthcare, health outcomes, workforce development, and community engagement.
Date: 01/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: West Virginia Bureau for Public Health, West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, West Virginia State Office of Rural Health
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A Scoping Review of Traditional Food Security in Alaska
Summarizes a literature review examining traditional foods and food security in rural Alaska. Discusses how the pillars of food security apply to traditional foods of Alaska Natives.
Author(s): Amanda Walch, Andrea Bersamin, Philip Loring, Rhonda Johnson, Melissa Tholl
Citation: International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 77(1)
Date: 01/2018
Type: Document
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The Opioid Crisis: An Examination of How We Got Here and How We Move Forward
Presents the full U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) hearing on the opioid crisis, featuring a testimony from Sam Quinones, journalist and author of Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opioid Epidemic.
Additional links: Written Testimony
Date: 01/2018
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions
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Community Response Planning for Outbreaks of Hepatitis and HIV among People who Inject Drugs: A Case Study from Lenowisco Health District, A Rural Community in Virginia
Provides guidance to rural health departments when developing a comprehensive community response plan for hepatitis and HIV outbreaks among persons who inject drugs (PWIDs). Integrates key components of controlling and preventing communicable disease with emergency management strategies and community resource utilization. Offers lessons learned from the experiences of the LENOWISCO Health District located in the Appalachian region of Virginia. .
Date: 2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Association of County and City Health Officials
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Addressing Hepatitis C within a Southwest Tribal Community
Presents a study on a tribal-based hepatitis C (HCV) intervention to identify and treat HCV in a rural tribal community. Highlights data by age and gender of HCV patients from 2009-2014.
Author(s): Francine C. Gachupin, Rene Harbaugh, Alex Amarillas, et al.
Citation: Ethnicity and Disease, 28(4), 549–554
Date: 2018
Type: Document
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Chronic Health Risks in Commercial Fishermen: A Cross-Sectional Analysis from a Small Rural Fishing Village in Alaska
Presents a study on the chronic health risks of commercial fishermen in Alaska. Breaks down data by sex, ethnicity, and education level, among other measures.
Author(s): Carly Eckert, Torie Baker, Debra Cherry
Citation: Journal of Agromedicine, 23(2), 176-185
Date: 2018
Type: Document
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