Recently, Dr. Richard Jackson, a friend and colleague (a leading expert in health and the built environment) received a letter from his building's management demanding he move his bike -- from leaning against the wall of his rented parking spot. Though he lives in LA, he doesn't own...

This article was co-authored with Pamela Mejia. Mejia is a Research Associate at the Berkeley Media Studies Group, where she analyzes how the media talks about public health and social issues. She was a lead author on "Breaking News on Child Sexual...

Who turns down a $50 billion savings for the country? Who turns down the opportunity for better health for all Americans? The House did, on Tuesday, as the majority of representatives voted to gut the Prevention and Public Health Fund as a means to pay for increased doctors' Medicare reimbursement,...

"When you have a veil of secrecy, you have the potential for abusive behavior whether it's in the Catholic church, a school or whatever, and that applies to all of us, not just the NCAA," NCAA President Mark Emmert told reporters Monday in Indianapolis.

As I've been watching...

Prevention Institute parents, advocates, public health officials and organizations across the country are calling for President Obama to step in and protect voluntary guidelines for food marketing to children. Sign the petition and join us.

Why? Food companies are deceiving kids. And they're making a huge profit doing...

A mother crosses in the middle of the street carrying her baby, with her four year old separate and adrift. The four year old is hit, and, horrifically, killed by a drunk driver. Raquel Nelson is the Atlanta-area mom, who was convicted of vehicular homicide after her 4-year-old...

Federal guidelines that would help support healthy foods for kids are under attack.

Voluntary guidelines proposed by the FTC, USDA, FDA and other agencies last April will, if companies follow them, ensure that foods marketed to kids contain real food ingredients including fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. They'll also limit...

Five years ago, the Prevention Institute pressed for comprehensive federal policy on prevention. We said that health and well-being was everybody's business -- that every sector, every department, needed to be thinking about health. People shook their heads no, saying that people outside of health care just wouldn't be interested,...

As we celebrate the anniversary of the Affordable Care Act this week, we also mark a huge turning point in the way we think about health. A year ago this week, our country made a down payment on a transformative notion.

The communities where we live, work, learn and...

Prevention Institute's new study, released yesterday, Claiming Health: Front-of-Package Labeling of Children's Food examined products with front-of-package labeling--those products that food companies choose to identify as healthier. Claiming Health found that 84% of products studied failed to meet basic nutritional standards.

So what do you think? We've...

Chronic diseases like diabetes are skyrocketing, and children are predicted to have a shorter life span than their parents. Parents want healthy food for their kids, and they want accurate information to guide them.

But parents are being fundamentally misled,...

Senseless violence in Tucson. Shocking but not surprising. Our UNITY violence prevention initiative helps stop the violence in U.S. cities and now, once again, our colleagues and staff face it in a too personal way via the shooting in Tucson. As a member of the Tucson UNITY group...

Community prevention is the essence of local control. It's about helping neighborhoods to work together with local businesses, community groups and local health departments to figure out the best ways to build health where they live--whether that's putting more fruits and vegetables on a child's school lunch plate, or making...

The House is now in Republican hands. If our newly elected officials earnestly believe that, "The people's priorities will be our priorities. The people's agenda will be our agenda," then they must protect the health and wellness of all Americans. They must stand up for prevention.

The new...

Dick Jackson, M.D., M.P.H. is the Chair of Environmental Health Sciences at the UCLA School of Public Health. He served 15 years at the CDC where he established the National Asthma Epidemiology and Control Program. Over the past decade, much of Dr....

Sometimes people's choices show you a lot more about what they don't know than they know. That is certainly the case with the Johanns amendment, up for a vote tomorrow in the Senate.

Lauded as a boon to small businesses tangled in IRS reporting red-tape, the Johanns amendment could really...

Something transformative is happening in America. Federal recommendations limiting food marketing to kids. Building sidewalks so that kids can be physically active in their neighborhoods. Soda tax proposals popping up across the country. Policies in San Francisco promoting healthy beverages in vending machines. Government is putting policies...

While the nation still struggles to understand the impact and implementation of health reform, the Prevention and Public Health Fund—a barely noted part of the overall package—has the potential to transform the way we think about health. Are we bold enough to seize that opportunity?

The Prevention...

The BP Gulf Oil spill makes one thing clear: our health and the planet's health are inextricably linked. Poisoned sea life, oil-drowned coastlines, sickening toxins in the air—it's taking a toll on our fiscal, physical, environmental, and emotional health. So when it comes to energy policy, it is time for...