School Notes: School of Public Health
March/April 2014

Surgeon General’s tobacco warning has saved lives

A YSPH-led study has found that while some 17.6 million Americans have died since 1964 due to smoking-related causes, an estimated eight million lives have been saved in the United States as a result of anti-smoking measures that began 50 years ago with the release of the Surgeon General’s 1964 Smoking Report. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, used mathematical models to calculate the effect of the seminal report and subsequent anti-smoking measures over the past half century. (For a Yale Alumni Magazine report, see page 28.)

Justice for South Africa’s mine workers

Mine workers in southern Africa have some of the highest rates of occupational lung disease in the world. Under South African law, these men and their families are entitled to financial compensation, but only a small proportion of them ever receive it. When they do, it is often insufficient for their needs. A report released on January 13 by the Global Health Justice Partnership (GHJP), a joint initiative of Yale Law School and Yale School of Public Health, explores solutions for this longstanding injustice. The 69-page report, Fulfilling Broken Promises: Reforming the Century-Old Compensation System for Occupational Lung Disease in the South African Mining Sector, analyzes the failures of the South African compensation system for mine workers with occupational lung disease. 

A citywide diet

As part of an initiative to create a healthier Elm City for all residents, a partnership of local health professionals, city government, and Yale is challenging New Haveners to collectively shed 375,000 pounds. The amount translates into just under three pounds for each of the city’s estimated 130,741 residents. The Get Healthy CT weight-loss challenge formally began January 10 at the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center. Mayor Toni Harp ’78MEnvD attended the launch, along with Paul Cleary, dean of the Yale School of Public Health, Mark Russi, professor of medicine at Yale and director of Occupational Health Services at Yale–New Haven Hospital, and Michael Taylor, CEO of Hill Health.