Epidemiological Profile for Iowa, 2002

This statewide profile describes the epidemiology of HIV, AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases in Iowa through December, 2002. The report characterizes the distribution of these diseases in terms of geography, race, gender, age, and associated causal factors. This epidemiological profile has been prepared to assist in developing a comprehensive HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Plan. This description of the HIV epidemic in the state serves to guide prevention and service efforts, to quantify unmet need for prevention and care programs, and to evaluate programs and policies in Iowa. Five key questions are addressed: 1. What are the sociodemographic characteristics of Iowa’s population? 2. What is the epidemiology, including the geographical distribution, of HIV, AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in Iowa? 3. Who is at the greatest risk of becoming infected with HIV and other STDs in Iowa? 4. What are the patterns of utilization of HIV services throughout the state? 5. What are the number and characteristics of persons who know they are HIV-positive, but who are not receiving primary medical care?

Healthy Iowans 2010 Mid-Course Revision, July 2005

In the past century, public health has been credited with adding 25 years to life expectancy by contributing to the decline in illness and injury. Progress has been made, for example, in smoking reduction, infectious disease, and motor vehicle and workplace injuries. Besides its focus on traditional concerns such as clean water and safe food, public health is adapting to meet emerging health problems. Particular troublesome are health threats to youth: teenage pregnancies, violence, substance abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, and other conditions associated with high-risk behaviors. These threats add to burgeoning health care costs. A conservative estimate of $69 billion in medical spending could be averted through the impact of public health strategies aimed at heart disease, stroke, fatal and nonfatal occupational injuries, motor vehicle-related injuries, low birth weight, and violence. These strategies require the collaboration of many groups in the public and private sectors. Collaboration is the bedrock of public health and Healthy Iowans planning. At the core of Healthy Iowans 2000 and its successor, Healthy Iowans 2010, is the idea that all Iowans benefit when stakeholders decide on disease prevention and health promotion strategies and agree to work together on them. These strategies can improve the quality of life and hold down health care costs. The payoff for health promotion and disease prevention is not immediate, but it has long-lasting benefits. The Iowa plan is a companion to the national plan, Healthy People 2010. An initiative to improve the health of Americans, the national plan is the driving force for federal resource allocation for disease prevention and health promotion. The state plan is used in the same way. Both plans have received broad support from Republican and Democratic administrations. Community planners are using the state plan to help assess health needs and craft health improvement plans. Healthy Iowans 2010 was written at an unusual point in history – a new decade, a new century, a new millennium. The introduction was optimistic. “The 21st century,” it says, “promises to add life as well as years through improved health habits coupled with medical advances. Scientists have suggested that if these changes occur, the definition of adulthood will also change. An extraordinary number of people will live fuller, more active lives beyond that expected in the late 20th century.” At the same time, the country has spawned a new generation of health hazards. According to Dr. William Dietz of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it has replaced “the diseases of deficiency with diseases of excess” (Newsweek, August 2, 1999). New threats, such as childhood overweight, can reverse progress made in the last century. This demands concerted action.

Iowa Young Adult Roundtables Summary, 2003

In 2003, 60 young people participated in the Young Adult Roundtables (YARTs) in Davenport, Mason City, Sioux City, and Des Moines. YARTs participants represent a variety of backgrounds, cultures, identities, and experiences. Each YART has a facilitator and a mentor. The mentor is a CPG member. The youth participate in CPG work primarily to assure that youth voices are heard and youth needs addressed. The youth meet every other month for three hours. Youth completed an anonymous questionnaire during their first meeting of the year.

Bureau of HIV, STD, & Hepatitis Quarterly Newsletter, January — March 2011, Vol. 1

This newsletter of the Bureau of HIV, STD, and Hepatitis. The idea of the newsletter was to improve communication between the bureau and those who are delivering HIV, STD, and hepatitis prevention, surveillance, and care programs across the state. More specifically, we would like to use the newsletter as a vehicle through which we can improve prevention and care services in Iowa. We will try to do this by describing the services and programs we fund, and by reflecting on data that we collect to help prevention and care providers make decisions on policies, unmet needs, and service gaps in the state. At the same time, we will try to keep you abreast of new programs, resources, and policies that may affect the work that you do and the lives of those living with or affected by HIV, STDs, and viral hepatitis.

Bureau of HIV, STD, & Hepatitis Quarterly Newsletter, April-August 2011, Vol. 2

This newsletter of the Bureau of HIV, STD, and Hepatitis. The idea of the newsletter was to improve communication between the bureau and those who are delivering HIV, STD, and hepatitis prevention, surveillance, and care programs across the state. More specifically, we would like to use the newsletter as a vehicle through which we can improve prevention and care services in Iowa. We will try to do this by describing the services and programs we fund, and by reflecting on data that we collect to help prevention and care providers make decisions on policies, unmet needs, and service gaps in the state. At the same time, we will try to keep you abreast of new programs, resources, and policies that may affect the work that you do and the lives of those living with or affected by HIV, STDs, and viral hepatitis.

Report to the Governor and the Iowa General Assembly: Infectious Disease Laws, 1999

The Iowa Legislation mandated a task force to evaluate current infectious disease laws in the state and the extent to which the current laws provide, or fail to provide, a framework and foundation for promoting public health. This is the report given by the task force regarding their findings to the Governor and Iowa General Assembly.