Bulletin #18 – August 2009

This Issue:
PBS Rebroadcast | New Documentary | New Lesson Plans
Farewell Andrea | Health Equity News | Health Equity database

PBS National Rebroadcast in October – Call your station!

You can contact Program or Viewer Services at your local PBS station and ask them if they will schedule the series at the PBS national feed or another time during October.

For a station directory, visit mediaengage.org

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Money-Driven Medicine on DVD

This important new documentary, produced by Academy Award winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), explores how the medical-industrial complex coupled with often perverse fee-for-service incentives brings us high cost yet poor performance health care. Money-Driven Medicine pierces the many myths about costs and quality so that all Americans can participate in the battle over health care reform. Learn more about the DVD at newsreel.org or moneydrivenmedicine.org and organize a screening.

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New Lesson Plans

We've just posted two new lesson plans:

• The first helps students identify common “frames” in news stories and learn how to critique health reporting.

• The Boston Public Health Commission has developed a comprehensive Youth Companion Guide for using Unnatural Causes in both after school and classroom settings. The Guide is currently being integrated into civics, health, social studies, history, and science courses in many of Boston's public schools.

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Farewell to Andrea Des Marais

Web Editor and Outreach Assistant Andrea Des Marais left the project at the end of July to complete her MPH at UNC Chapel Hill. Andrea has done invaluable work on Unnatural Causes, among other things writing and editing the email newsletter (though not this item), and leaves big shoes to fill. We know she'll be equally successful at Chapel Hill and one of you will be lucky enough to work with her when she completes her MPH.

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Health Equity News

• Journalism Training on Health Disparities
  Las Vegas, October 8-9: the National Health Policy Training Alliance for Communities of Color is hosting a training to give journalists the tools, resources, and information they need to report on health policy issues that affect communities of color.
• New Brief on Racial and Socio-economic Inequities
  The Health Policy Institute of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has released a new brief on racial and socio-economic inequities in activity limitation among children,
• HPI Director Reports on Equity Impacts
  HPI director Brian Smedley is issuing regular reports on the equity impact of the health reform legislation as it moves through Congress.
• Focus on Social Determinants of Child Health
  The June issue of the Health Sociology Review focuses on the social determinants of child health and wellbeing.
• Community-Based Solutions
  The report "A Time of Opportunity: Local Solutions to Reduce Inequities in Health and Safety" was presented to the Institute of Medicine Roundtable on Health Disparities in May.

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Newly Added to the Health Equity Database at unnaturalcauses.org

Among the new additions to the About Health Equity database on unnaturalcauses.org are:

• "Neuroscience, Molecular Biology, and the Childhood Roots of Health Disparities: Building a New Framework for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention"
  Co-authored by Drs. Jack P. Shonkoff, W. Thomas Boyce, and Bruce S. McEwen, this paper illustrates how the origins of many adult diseases can be traced to negative experiences in early childhood, with implications for prevention policy. The Harvard Center for the Developing Child provides summary materials. The full article is available via JAMA.
• The Transportation Prescription: Bold New Ideas for Healthy, Equitable Transportation Reform in America synthesizes the insights and recommendations of a group of leading academic researchers and advocates working at the intersection of transportation policy, equity, and public health. From PolicyLink, Prevention Institute, and the Convergence Partnership.
• RWJF Commission to Build a Healthier America has two produced two new chartbooks investigating national patterns in health: one on adults and education level, and one on children and socioeconomic status.
• Community Issues Management is a web-based system designed to help local and regional organizations frame, manage, and take action on complex issues using state and national GIS data layers, a resource library, and networking opportunities.

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About Us

UNNATURAL CAUSES was produced by California Newsreel in association with Vital Pictures, Inc. California Newsreel is the oldest non-profit documentary production and distribution center in the country, now celebrating its 40th anniversary. For more information on our extensive collections of acclaimed DVDs, click on the links below or visit us at www.newsreel.org.

Health and Social Justice	African American Perspectives	Library of African Cinema	Globalization

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Encourage your friends and colleagues to sign up for our newsletter to keep up to date on new health equity resources and initiatives.

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