Dear John,

Heads up! We have an exciting edition of Health Affairs Insider Journal Club meeting next week.

On December 19, please join author Ashley Fox, an associate professor at the University at Albany, SUNY, for a detailed discussion on her paper about the substantial disparities in COVID-19 vaccine uptakes and unmet immunization demands in low- and middle-income countries.

Register below!

Adolescent Social Outcomes During COVID-19

In the December issue of Health Affairs, Jennifer Seager of George Washington University and her team of coauthors examine social outcomes during COVID-19 among adolescents living near and within refugee camps in Jordan and Bangladesh and urban areas in Ethiopia.

The researchers find worsening outcomes for adolescents in these countries across all domains except self-reported health, and declines were worse for vulnerable adolescents. 

More specifically, employment rates among adolescents decreased, and the share of meals with protein decreased “dramatically” between May-July 2020 (COVID-R1) and November 2020 and April 2021 (COVID-R2).

The most vulnerable adolescents in the study generally experienced worse declines in social outcomes. 

Seager and coauthors also find “limited evidence that receipt of aid was protective against adverse outcomes for adolescents, regardless of household vulnerability status.”

The researchers conclude that governments should develop social protection policies that target the most vulnerable and consider the special needs of adolescents.

The Health Equity Fellowship for Trainees (HEFT) is a part of Health Affairs’ national initiative to advance equity in health policy and health services scholarly publishing.

The purpose of the Fellowship is to increase the quantity and quality of manuscripts published by early-career researchers interested in addressing health inequities among underserved racial and ethnic populations, while cultivating future health equity research leaders.

In the program, fellows will receive multilayered mentorship from experienced Health Affairs authors and editorial staff for eighteen months (July 2024–December 2025).

Mentors will work with fellows to make fellows’ manuscript submissions more likely to be accepted by Health Affairs or another journal. Manuscript submissions must be related to addressing health inequities among underserved populations.

Applications for the 2024–2025 Health Equity Fellowship for Trainees cohort are now open from December 4, 2023–February 15, 2024.

CMS Must Obtain Clinician Input Today To Prevent Part D Access Barriers Tomorrow

A. Mark Fendrick

For this issue, seven authors filmed a video version of their abstracts.

These video abstracts are available with open access on the article's page and on our YouTube channel (Please subscribe!).

Check out the video abstracts below:

• Bernard Black If The US Had Matched Israel's Speed & Take-Up, An Estimated 29,000 US Lives Would Have Been Saved
• Peter J. Hotez Global Vaccine Access Demands Combating Both Inequity and Hesitancy
• Tse Yang Lim Why Similar Policies Resulted In Different COVID-19 Outcomes: How Responsiveness & Culture Influenced Mortality Rates
• David B. Ridley FDA Global Drug Inspections: Surveillance Of Manufacturing Establishments Remains Well Below Pre-COVID-19 Levels
• Adolfo Rubinstein Lives Versus Livelihoods: The Epidemiological, Social, & Economic Impact Of COVID-19 In Latin America & The Caribbean
• Jonas Schreyögg Socioeconomic Disparities In Mortality & Health Care Use During The COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence From Germany
• Rebecca Wong COVID-19 And Mental Health Outcomes Of Older Adults: Evidence From Mexico

Download America's Health Rankings' 2023 Annual Report

A new report from America’s Health Rankings found that rates of eight chronic conditions have reached the highest levels in the report’s history. Learn more about this trend and others revealed by the data. 

Sponsored by United Health Foundation