Mitigating the scourge of chronic disease, which afflicts more than half of Americans and consumes 86% of our nation\u2019s healthcare expenditures, depends heavily on patients\u2019 ability to improve their health behaviors. Yet individuals are often blamed and shamed for not adhering to prescribed regimens that are constructed with little consideration of the unique barriers they pose to adoption.<\/p>

The 30-year-old Bromley by Bow Centre, located just outside London in one of England\u2019s most deprived boroughs, is home to a primary care practice, a church, a caf\u00e9, and over 100 locally-owned social enterprises offering locals everything from job training and financial counseling to childcare and low-rent art studios. It has a simple, yet ambitious goal: to help residents of the borough \u201cbuild up the skills and confidence they need to progress in life.\u201d<\/p>

The Bromley by Bow Centre recognizes that all individuals have a unique definition of progress.<\/p><\/blockquote>

Taking the time to understand residents\u2019 jobs enables physicians and social advocates to connect them with health and social services that address their particular problems; and to tap their passions in a way that serves their personal aspirations, as well as their community.<\/p>

Read the full article about chronic\u00a0disease by Rebecca Fogg at Christensen Institute .

A no-questions-asked, self-serve food pantry more than doubled its distribution rates between March 2020 and November 2021 compared to the same period in 2018-19.<\/p>

The University of Chicago Medicine\u2019s\u00a0Feed1st pantry program\u00a0provided more than 42,000 pounds of food (a 124% increase) to patients, hospital visitors, and staff during the pandemic. These results appear in the\u00a0American Journal of Public Health, and according to the research team, demonstrate the importance of open access food pantry programs.<\/p>

\u201cWe compared our impact to the impact of another urban hospital, serving a similar population, with food pantries that had barriers to access, such as requiring an ID or a provider referral and waiting for a pantry staff member to bring them food,\u201d says Cristianne Frazier, who manages the Feed1st program.<\/p>

\u201cWe saw a substantial increase in our distribution rates during the pandemic, while the questions-asked hospital program actually saw a decrease\u2014they served fewer people and distributed less\u00a0food\u00a0during the pandemic compared to before it.<\/p>

\u201cThe \u2018feed first\u2019 model\u00a0maximizes dignity\u00a0and facilitates use by requiring no permission and no documentation to access, which we believe increases the likelihood that individuals who need food will help themselves to this resource,\u201d she continues.<\/p>

Currently, federal and state policies limit the implementation of this type of pantry model; the USDA and state agencies usually require food pantry programs to gather information from patrons to distribute government-sourced food. Frazier hopes that these results help encourage policy changes that will enable more food pantries to take an open access approach.<\/p>

\u201cOur hypothesis is that widespread implementation of open access food pantries, especially in communities that have been socioeconomically marginalized, would have a bigger positive impact on public health than the traditional models,\u201d says Frazier. \u201cFeed1st has been running for more than 10 years thanks to the hospital\u2019s community benefit program, partnerships, and generous donors, but others trying to start up similar pantries around Chicago have run into barriers with obtaining food due to these policies.\u201d<\/p>

Read the full article about food pantries by Alison Caldwell at Futurity.

June 24, 2022 is a date that will be remembered by women for decades to come. When the world awoke to the news that Roe v. Wade had been overturned, the unfathomable decision to limit a woman\u2019s right to an abortion was a brutal signal that an anti-women\u2019s rights movement has been gathering pace and has now weaved itself into the fabric of the Western World.<\/p>

This patriarchal resistance has proactively reversed the rights and freedoms that were hard won by previous generations; rights that were deeply necessary for developmental progress to be made \u2014 and now, women who had long hoped that their basic freedoms were secure have found themselves back on unsteady ground.<\/p>

Against the relentless backdrop of challenges and regimes against women that we\u2019ve witnessed in developing nations , the Roe v. Wade decision casts a net of fear far beyond the borders of the United States.<\/p>

Only weeks after the ruling, we can already sense that this decision has given renewed energy to existing anti-women\u2019s rights movements across the world. Over the years, the United States has identified itself as a nation that represents a beacon of liberty, whose fundamental values are based on freedom and choice.<\/p>

But as we witness one of the key members of the United Nations Security Council stripping women of autonomy over their bodies, we must ask what message this sends to dozens of countries across the world, and what permission it grants to the brutalist regimes that yoke and limit women\u2019s futures.<\/p>

We must ask, if the rights of 50% of that population are withheld, how can we possibly move forward? Among our most powerful solutions to combat the climate crisis, there is no greater potential that exists than the inclusion of educated women and young girls to our society. When given the right to use their voices, to develop their dreams into skills, they will be given the power to redefine the future of humanity as we know it.<\/p>

As we look to the fall out of the Roe v. Wade decision, one thing is abundantly clear: the answer to sparking progress is never to take away from women\u2019s rights \u2014 it is to grant them. To some, the overturning of this case is simply a legislation change. To others it\u2019s a captivating dinner table debate, or a fired up social media post. In reality, it is an annihilation of a woman\u2019s right to make a choice about her body and her future.<\/p>

Today, we must all choose to rise and defend our fundamental rights, and our freedom to contribute to the decisions that shape all of our futures. This fight to regain and protect our remaining rights cannot be won by a few of us. It will take all of our collective power, and it must start now.<\/p>

Read the full article about women's rights by\u00a0Naza Alakija at Global Citizen.