This resource sheet from the American Academy of Pediatrics contains a wealth of information about how to keep children healthy during flu season. The sheet links to videos, web articles, and printable sheets for child care providers to tailor and share with parents. The page covers topics such as vaccine information, children with chronic health conditions, how to fight germs and not spread illness, and how to tell when a child is too sick for school and needs to see a doctor.

In this report supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Manatt Health explores the opioid and mental health crises and how cities and counties are implementing local initiatives to address the human and economic impact of untreated serious mental illness and substance abuse disorders. The report profiles 13 local programs that address homelessness, criminal justice, and the frequent use of first responder and hospital emergency departments. It examines both the community impact and local response initiatives, paying particular attention to areas with gaps in treatment, such as the homeless community, and outlines success factors of these local programs.

This National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) article, authored by NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow, states that while the opioid crisis is a problem that can affect people from all walks of life, it has particularly impacted some of the poorest regions in the country where stress and other environmental and social factors may leave some individuals more vulnerable. Psychological factors such as increases in economic challenges and stress can play a role in addiction. Reasons may also include level of access to and the quality of health care received by people in economically disadvantaged areas. The article suggests that reversing the current opioid crisis and preventing future ones require not just addressing this issue from the supply-side, but will also entail addressing such issues as economic disparities, housing instability, poor education quality, and lack of access to quality health care--all areas that plague disadvantaged individuals, families, and communities.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created this media toolkit to help partners communicate the importance of the flu vaccine. It includes posters, flyers, factsheets, and materials designed specifically for children, and images for use on social media. They are easily printable in PDF format, and some are available in both English and Spanish.

Socioeconomic status is often not taken into account when examining influenza rates in a geographic area. This study sought to explore this information and took place over the course of two different flu seasons; the study was a partnership among 14 states to examine influenza hospitalizations in geographic areas with census-tract level poverty. It was found that with this type of poverty, higher rates of severe outcomes and hospitalization from the flu occurred.

This study, published in the Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics Journal, details the vaccination rates and attitudes towards the influenza vaccine among a low-income community in Central New York State. A total of 1,041 people were surveyed as part of the study, and 655 were found to be unvaccinated for the current flu season. Of those unvaccinated, 312 indicated they did not plan to receive the vaccine, and 46% of these respondents chose not to receive it because of misconceptions about the vaccine. Of those who intended to receive the vaccine but had not yet done so, 95% stated they had not received it because of a lack of access.

This free resource from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides information about American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) and the flu and how to prevent it in an easy-to-read infographic. It is available in a printer file, poster file to print, or text file that can be read without the graphics.

This free resource from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides information about pregnant women and the flu and how to prevent it in an easy-to-read infographic. It is available in a printer file, poster file to print, or text file that can be read without the graphics.

This free resource from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides information about the flu and how to prevent it in an easy-to-read infographic. It is available in a printer file, poster file to print, or text file that can be read without the graphics. Additionally, the CDC has created similar files targeting pregnant women and Native Americans.

This article details the outcomes of a community-based cohort study that was conducted with 275 primarily low-income, urban households to study vaccine effectiveness against influenza in the 2013-2014 season. The vaccine effectiveness within this sample was found to be 62.5%, which was consistent with the national reported estimate of effectiveness of 61%. This has implications for the generalizability of vaccine effectiveness studies, as these studies often do not include non-medically attended patients from low-income areas.