The COVID-19 pandemic has increased risk factors for child maltreatment. A group of researchers, including Assistant Professor Elizabeth Aparicio in the University of Maryland School of Public Health, drafted a policy brief to urge policymakers to adapt existing child and family services and policies to ensure the safety, resilience, and overall well-being of vulnerable children and families in the face of increased stressors.

The Center for Health Literacy is asking African American and Hispanic adults to test a smartphone health app for personalized health information.

The app can help find information to prevent or manage common health conditions.

Here's how to participate:

• OWN an ANDROID phone
• Willing to download the app
• Use the app at least 15 minutes a week
• Attend 1 virtual orientation session

Participants will get:

Two experts in LGBTQ and young adult mental health, Dr. Jessica Fish (UMD SPH) and Dr. Stephen T. Russel (UT, Austin) describe the serious harms that LGBTQ youth experience from so-called “conversion therapy” efforts in a new editorial published in the American Journal of Public Health.

Climate change affects the timing of spring and is leading to an increase in asthma hospitalizations , according to a new study led by Amir Sapkota of the University of Maryland School of Public Health. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), is the first to provide quantitative data on the connection between climate change, changes in plant phenology and asthma hospitalizations.

Plant phenology is the study of periodic plant cycles and how seasonal and yearly variations in climate influence them.

After Push by UMD Researcher, WHO Changes Course/New Recommendations Acknowledge Possibility of Airborne Transmission

A high-profile campaign led in part by a University of Maryland infectious disease expert moved the World Health Organization (WHO) to acknowledge the novel coronavirus may remain airborne indoors and infect people through breathing.

Staying active can help older people prevent depression while following the COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, according to a new University of Maryland School of Public Health study published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. The study is the first to examine the association between physical activity levels and mental health symptoms in older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new University of Maryland study assessed the impact of a program focused on increasing access to birth control among women in Delaware. Called Delaware Contraceptive Access Now (DelCAN), this initiative between the reproductive-health nonprofit Upstream USA and the state of Delaware launched in 2015. The program aims to give all women of reproductive age, regardless of insurance or ability to pay, same-day access to the full range of contraceptive methods at low or no cost. 

Marie Thoma, an assistant professor of family science in the School of Public Health received an honorable mention in the 2019 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Global Health NOW Annual Untold Stories of Global Health Contest for her submission putting forth the untold st

Doctoral students John P. Salerno (behavioral and community health) and Natasha D. Williams (family science) highlight the structural, social and individual-level challenges faced by LGBTQ persons in the context of COVID-19 and propose strategies to mitigate their psychological trauma in a commentary published in the Journal of the American Psychological Association. Both Salerno and Williams are research staff in the UMD Prevention Research Center. 

Authorities shrugging off risk—or ordering everyone to mask up. The virus surging in locales that dropped their guards too soon. Death rates that cut along racial lines, impacting African Americans with particular ferocity.