The State We’re In Newsletter

Welcome to The State We’re In newsletter published by the Center for Prevention. Click here to subscribe, or read past issues found on the right side of this page.

 

August 2020 Issue
Welcome to the August 2020 issue of State We’re In newsletter from the Center for Prevention. The Center for Prevention tackles the leading causes of preventable disease and death – commercial tobacco use, physical inactivity and unhealthy eating – to advance health equity, transform communities and create a healthier state.

 

On Monday, July 20, the Minnesota House of Representatives voted to declare racism as a public health crisis. The declaration applies to the entire state and affirms that the Minnesota House will be an active participant in dismantling racism. It creates a House Select Committee on Minnesota’s response tasked with analyzing legislative work through an intersectional race equity lens. Blue Cross CEO Craig Samitt submitted a letter of support for House Resolution 1. “Our collective denunciation of racism by designating it specifically as a public health crisis, along with sustained anti-racism action, is long overdue,” he wrote.

Connecting racism to public health is not new, however, 2020 has been a time of national reckoning. The COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd is forcing us to look at the stark inequities pervasive in our society. Systemic and structural racism in housing, health care, employment and healthy food access is resulting in people in the Latino and Black communities being three times as likely to be infected with COVID-19 as their white counterparts and twice as likely to die of the virus as white people.

Acknowledging these realities is essential for us to make progress on systemic change. This month we bring you stories of how our communities are coming together to respond to this public health crisis to ensure change for better health now and for future generations.
THREESIXTY JOURNALISM 2020: DIGITAL MEDIA CAMP
Serving Elders: how chefs are preparing traditional food for elders at the American Indian Center in Minneapolis during the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo essay by Emil Liden.
This month, in partnership with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, ThreeSixty Journalism held their inaugural Digital Media Arts Camp. This is the fourth year that Blue Cross has partnered with ThreeSixty Journalism to empower the next generation of diverse storytellers and change the dominate narrative on health- a particularly poignant and timely partnership as race and heath equity have been catapulted into mainstream consciousness, including close examination of systemic racism in our nation. The theme of this year’s camp was Racism as a Public Health Crisis: The impacts of COVID-19 and racism on the health of Black, Indigenous and communities of Color in Minnesota.

This year, students faced the complex challenge of reporting during the pandemic. Programming moved online, and students conducted all of their interviews virtually over Zoom.  Even without the ability to connect in person, students exceeded all expectations. In less than one week, they worked with media mentors to create professional digital stories on how racism impacts health and the work of community leaders to respond to health inequities.

Representation matters. Increasing positive and accurate representations of Black, Indigenous and communities of Color in mainstream media is integral to health equity. Through our collaboration with ThreeSixty, we are working to give voice to those most impacted by inequity, create greater understanding of where and why health inequities happen, and develop the next generation of diverse storytellers. Featured stories included:

We are incredibly proud of all the students and the powerful stories they created.
WATCH OUT BIG TOBACCO: CHANGING HOW COMMERCIAL TOBACCO IS SOLD IN MINNESOTA
Menthol cigarettes make up 36% of cigarette sales. However, they are more often the type of cigarettes people choose when trying smoking for the first time, and they are disproportionately marketed to African–American youth. Menthol cigarettes are also linked to decreased quitting rates. With the goal of reducing youth access to these products, in 2017 and 2018, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth and Falcon Heights became among the first U.S. cities to pass policies restricting the sale of menthol tobacco to adult-only stores.

The Center for Prevention and ClearWay Minnesota conducted retail store audits pre and post policy implementation in each city to examine the changes in the availability and marketing of these products. Findings demonstrate high rates of store compliance and significant decreases in interior and exterior menthol tobacco marketing after the policy was passed, showing that sales restrictions can significantly reduce the availability and advertising of menthol tobacco. Some stores challenged adhering to the policy, which underscores the need for continued monitoring and action.

Findings from the study were recently published in the Journal of Tobacco Control, an international peer-reviewed journal.