Sexual Health

Microscopic image of the AIDS virus

When the HIV/AIDS Epidemic Meets COVID-19

Claire Volkert, Jonethan James, Kourtney Young, Noreen Khan, Sydney Gurecki, and Bianca Ghita

The HIV/AIDS epidemic exposed how structural factors place individuals at an increased risk for infection, something we are seeing again today with COVID-19. Can lessons learned from the HIV epidemic help prevent us from making the same mistakes today?

A black mother stands on a beach while holding her infant

Infant Mortality among Black Babies

Utibe Effiong, MPH ’14, Ekemini Hogan, and Obasi Okorie

It’s a painful statistical fact that Black babies die at higher rates than White babies—a fact all the more painful and tragic for those living with the realities of infant mortality. The difference in death rates is shared by developing and developed nations alike. But the trend can and must change.

Menstrual Products

Changing the Cycle: Period Poverty as a Public Health Crisis

Ashley Rapp and Sidonie Kilpatrick

With 1 in 5 girls missing school due to lack of menstrual products, period poverty is an important, yet often ignored, public health crisis. Michigan Public Health students Ashley Rapp and Sidonie Kilpatrick explore the issue, and the ways public health professionals can work toward menstrual equity.

illustration of a microscope, and a magnifying glass studying a DNA sample

Tracking a Killer: Disease Behavior and Epidemiology's Detective Tools

Betsy Foxman

You don't have to know an organism to track its effects. This fundamental insight into the relationship between humans and pathogens helps public health professionals act even when they have only imperfect information. Just as importantly, says Betsy Foxman, is the will to act—for the benefit of everyone in the community—when good science tells us the time is now.

Family walking down the street

Making Family Planning a Household Name: The Legacy of Title X

Chloe Bakst

Title X provides for a diverse array of services, including medical care like contraception, training for nurses and other care providers, and systematic data collection. Despite fifty years of shrinking financial support, can it continue to be successful?