Hear Georgia NOW

Category: Health

  • New Georgia law expands pharmacists’ role in HIV prevention access

    New Georgia law expands pharmacists’ role in HIV prevention access

    New Georgia law expands pharmacists’ role in HIV prevention access

    A new law takes effect on July 1 that will allow pharmacists in Georgia more flexibility to provide medications to prevent HIV.

    However, several details still need to be worked out before the law can expand access as intended.

    Eric Rangel is the executive director and health navigator at Latino LinQ, a Latinx LGBTQ organization that provides free HIV testing. He said it is still unclear how the policy will work in practice.

    “Which pharmacies are going to participate in this? Is it all pharmacies? Is it particularly with Walgreens? So is it with the Walmart pharmacies?” Rangel said. “How is this looking like exactly? And with each pharmacy, do they have the staffing and the capabilities?”

    The Georgia State Board of Pharmacy will determine many of the implementation details, including training requirements and protocols for the state.

    In Georgia, nearly 67,000 people are living with HIV, and more than 2,400 were newly diagnosed in 2024. Public health officials believe the new law could increase access to prevention measures by 20-fold, especially in rural areas where access to healthcare is scarce.

    Pedro Viloria is the director of community impact and wellbeing with Latino Community Fund Georgia. He said the organization advocated for the law and will remain active in ensuring the policy works for everyone, specifically with language access.

    “Language access is one of our biggest missions,” Viloria said. “We believe having access in language to resources is the biggest hurdle, so we want to make sure that that is something that is prioritized.”

    Advocates are now focused on smooth implementation of the policy and supporting outreach strategies so that communities know what is available.

  • Georgia child well-being progress stalls, Kids Count report finds

    Georgia child well-being progress stalls, Kids Count report finds

    Georgia child well-being progress stalls, Kids Count report finds

    After years of steady improvement, Georgia’s progress on child well-being has stalled, according to the 2026 Kids Count Data Book.

    The report examines data related to youth outcomes and ranks Georgia as the 39th state in the nation for overall child and family well-being.

    Jacquan Jordan is the data manager for the Georgia Family Connection Partnership. He said one of the largest warning signs is the rate of babies born at a low birth weight. In the U.S., 8.5% of babies meet that metric. 

    “Very high for a developed nation,” Jordan pointed out. “For us as a state to have 10.3%, it really is one of those indicators for us to pay particular attention to, especially considering that is an indicator that also tells you about food nutrition in the community, access to prenatal care.”

    Several metrics in the report were found to be worse compared to data in 2019. Housing has become much less affordable, and education metrics around reading and math proficiency have seen a downturn. 

    Jordan said Georgia can implement meaningful interventions now or fall further behind.

    Leslie Boissiere is the vice president of external affairs for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the organization that publishes the report. She said the data reflects the daily realities of children and families in the state.

    “It’s a child who either has enough to eat or doesn’t have enough to eat,” Boissiere explained. “It’s a child who is either in a stable home and has access to quality education to put themselves on the pathway to thrive, or it’s a child who doesn’t have those necessities.”

    Some positive trends that the report highlighted are less children living in poverty, high school students graduating on time and less teen births.

  • Georgia among states driving rise in uninsured young children

    Georgia among states driving rise in uninsured young children

    Georgia among states driving rise in uninsured young children

    Georgia is among three large Southern states that account for more than half the national increase of uninsured children.

    A Georgetown University report found that the uninsured rate for young children is at its highest point in nearly a decade.

    Brittney Newton, senior policy analyst for the group Voices for Georgia’s Children, said the “unwinding” of Medicaid is a large contributor to the increase.

    “Beginning in 2023, states had to review eligibility for every Medicaid enrollee and many families lost coverage during that process,” Newton said. “Not because they were no longer eligible, but because of administrative issues, things like missing paperwork, incomplete forms, or overall communication breakdowns.”

    The state has launched “Stay Informed, Stay Covered,” an outreach campaign to help families navigate the renewal process. Newton said the renewal notices families receive are often confusing or arrive too late, if they come at all.

    Elisabeth Wright Burak, senior fellow at the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families and lead author of the report, said the loss of coverage has a severe impact on infants and toddlers.

    “Young children have much more frequent checkups in their earliest months and years of life to check their developmental progress and make sure we can catch any concerns or delays before they get to school,” Burak said.

    The report found that young children of color faced the highest uninsured rates with Native American and Alaska Native children under 6 facing a 10.5% uninsured rate nationally.

    Newton advocated for more transparent age and county-level data to help with outreach and presumptive eligibility, which would allow places, such as Head Start programs, to temporarily enroll eligible children while official applications are processed.

  • Georgia awarded $25 million for PFAS cleanup amid EPA rule rollbacks

    Georgia awarded $25 million for PFAS cleanup amid EPA rule rollbacks

    Georgia awarded $25 million for PFAS cleanup amid EPA rule rollbacks

    The Environmental Protection Agency announced in May that Georgia would receive more than $25 million in grants to address PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals.”

    The announcement came shortly after the agency weakened federal drinking water protections for the toxic compounds.

    Documentation shows that Georgia has had evidence of PFAS contamination for nearly two decades.

    Maria Doa, senior director of chemical policy at the Environmental Defense Fund, said even a small amount of PFAS can be dangerous.

    “They’re extremely bad,” Doa said. “They cause so many different harms to the body at extremely low levels. And the other thing is many of these PFAS build up in your body and stay there for a long time.”

    Since the 1970s, the carpet industry in northwest Georgia has relied on the chemicals for stain resistance. In 2008, University of Georgia testing found “staggeringly high” levels of PFAS in the Conasauga River, which supplies drinking water to the area.

    With the EPA planning to roll back drinking water limits on four PFAS, Doa said the administration is putting industry profits ahead of the health of the public.

    “This is part of a coordinated approach to roll back protections,” Doa said. “And a lot of the people at EPA are former industry chemical lobby people who are there, and are integral to rolling back these regulations.”

    Written comments can be submitted to the EPA about the rollback until July 20 at regulations.gov, and a virtual public hearing is scheduled for July 7.

  • Federal funding boosts Georgia hospitals, health programs and rural care

    Federal funding boosts Georgia hospitals, health programs and rural care

    Federal funding boosts Georgia hospitals, health programs and rural care

    The trillion-dollar spending package President Trump signed into law in February included funding for Georgia healthcare organizations to expand their services, according to Georgia Public Broadcasting.

    The funding was secured by U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock and includes hundreds of millions of dollars that will go towards healthcare systems in Georgia.

    About half a million dollars will go to Emory Decatur Hospital and CommonSpirit Memorial Hospital North Georgia. Emory Decatur Hospital will use the funds to improve its neonatal intensive care unit, and CommonSpirit Memorial Hospital North Georgia will purchase technology upgrades for Virtual Integrated Care, which consists of remote nurses helping with patient loads.

    Other funds coming to Georgia include $1.8 million to Albany Area Health Primary Health Care, $300 million to East Point for emergency response equipment and funds for hospital improvements in South Georgia.

    Nearly $3 million will go towards a new campus for the Cobb and Douglas County public health department.

    Erin Campbell, director and founder of the Athens Area Diaper Bank, said they will use $200,000 to fund more warehouse space and buy supplies for the city’s diaper bank.

    “Just in our community alone, it’s over 10,000 children that are at risk of diaper need,” Campbell said. “When families have to decide between diapers or food, that’s a choice we don’t think any family should have to make.”

    Georgia’s rural hospitals still have time to apply for improvement funds under Phase 3 of the Rural Health Transformation Program. The deadline to apply is June 15.

  • Women veterans with military sexual trauma face higher pregnancy risks

    Women veterans with military sexual trauma face higher pregnancy risks

    Women veterans with military sexual trauma face higher pregnancy risks

    Data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs show that women who experienced military sexual trauma face higher risks for complications during pregnancy, according to WABE.

    Military sexual trauma, or MST, refers to experiences of sexual assault or harrassment experienced during military service.

    According to VA data, 1 in 50 men and 1 in 3 women nationwide report experiencing MST.

    “Women are substantially more likely to have experienced MST. It can be very long-term pain and human suffering that result from this,” said Kayla Williams, senior policy advisor at the Vet Voice Foundation and former director of the VA Center for Women Veterans. 

    Although the military has implemented policy reforms to address MST, progress is slow.

    “When your workplace is the military and you live and work around the same people all the time and potentially the person who’s harassing you is your boss, it’s an all-consuming environment that is just different than most other workplaces,” she said, “which is one of the reasons that military sexual trauma is so highly predictive of posttraumatic stress disorder. You’re more likely to develop PTSD if you experience MST than combat trauma or civilian sexual trauma.”

    VA research shows that women who experienced MST had an increased risk of spontaneous preterm birth, preeclampsia and gestational diabetes. 

    Dr. Kelsey Sprang Jones with Emory University School of Medicine told WABE that maternal trauma can also harm babies.

    In Georgia, mental health conditions are among the leading causes of pregnancy complications and maternal deaths. The risks are even higher for women veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder.

    A chart showing the increase in pregnancy complication risk for women veteran who have experienced military sexual trauma

  • Georgia group works to address growing mental health crisis among farmers

    Georgia group works to address growing mental health crisis among farmers

    Georgia group works to address growing mental health crisis among farmers

    A Georgia organization is looking for ways to address mental health concerns among the state’s farmers.

    John P. McElveen is the director of the Georgia Agricultural Wellness Alliance, which was founded in 2022. He told WABE that the general population might not realize the types of stressors farmers are under today.

    “I do think those outside of agriculture sometimes have this very rosy picture of the pastoral settings in which farmers work and that they get to be outside and enjoy that. And that’s true to a certain extent,” McElveen said. “But it is a double-edged sword, if you will. And so, they really need to understand — those consumers and others — and we’re all impacted and depend upon agriculture. We need to know about that stress and those challenges.”

    From natural disasters like hurricanes to economic challenges, such as tariffs and rising fuel costs, farmers face several obstacles to keep their businesses going, which contribute to worsening mental health.

    The National Rural Health Association reports that farmers are three to five times more likely to die by suicide than the average population.

    McElveen was introduced to a program called COMET, the Changing Our Mental and Emotional Trajectory, based out of Colorado. The program works to train rural communities how to help people who are struggling.

    McElveen hopes to bring the program to Georgia to help rural communities deal with mental health challenges.

  • Carter Center forum highlights need for earlier mental health care

    Carter Center forum highlights need for earlier mental health care

    Carter Center forum highlights need for earlier mental health care

    The Carter Center hosted its 30th annual Mental Health Forum, continuing the legacy of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

    The event is dedicated to advancing mental health policy, systems, and practice across the state of Georgia by bringing together state leaders, experts in the field, and advocates.

    Former U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, who helped get the 2008 federal Mental Health Parity Act passed, spoke at the event, according to Georgia Public Broadcasting.

    He said Georgia could do more in the area of prevention.

    “Right now, we pay for the most costly care because we wait until it becomes a crisis,” Kennedy said. “No surprise; if you waited for cancer to be Stage 4, you’d end up spending a lot more money than if you did much more, early on, to screen.”

    Georgia passed its own Mental Health Parity Act in 2022 and recently launched a mental health parity centralized dashboard to help track issues with insurance coverage for mental health care claims. 

    Also at the event, Commissioner Kevin Tanner of the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities gave an update of the agency’s plans and several panels discussed topics from immigration to caregiving needs.

  • Atlanta ovarian cancer support group helps women find hope and community

    Atlanta ovarian cancer support group helps women find hope and community

    Atlanta ovarian cancer support group helps women find hope and community

    An Atlanta support group for women with ovarian cancer has helped women find community across the country.

    Kim Airhart was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2020, and she said she was blindsided.

    “I went and had a couple different opinions with some different doctors and finally was able to discover the fact that I had, in fact, almost a stage 4 diagnosis,” Airhart said. “It was all over my abdomen, my spleen, my liver.”

    After finishing treatment, she decided to start Harts of Teal to raise awareness and offer support and resources to people facing similar struggles.

    “I felt like the Lord was just placing it on my heart for me to start to try to give back,” she said.

    Sandra Griffin participates in the support group, and she was diagnosed in 2020. She said she encountered Harts of Teal at the group’s annual color run, and the experience changed her life.

    “I tell people sometimes that I would never choose to have cancer, but I have received so many blessings as a result of it,” Griffin said. “Harts of Teal is one of the very biggest ones because it’s people, people like me.”

    The organization will hold its annual Enduring Hope Color Run on June 6 in Fayetteville.

  • Georgia advocates react as court restores temporary access to abortion pill

    Georgia advocates react as court restores temporary access to abortion pill

    Georgia advocates react as court restores temporary access to abortion pill

    Georgia advocates for reproductive rights responded to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Monday that temporarily restores access to abortion medication by mail.

    The court halted an appellate court order to block the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule that allowed the abortion pill mifepristone to be prescribed online and dispensed through the mail.

    However, the administrative stay is only temporary and will remain in place until 5 p.m. on May 11. Now, the court needs to consider whether it will approve the drug companies’ requests to block the order while litigation proceeds.

    Meanwhile, Georgia advocates for abortion rights remain active in calling on the courts to dismiss any case that limits reproductive freedoms.

    Monica Simpson is the executive director of Sister Song: Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. She told WABE that restricting mifepristone would lead to unnecessary and potentially harmful delays in care.

    “Mifepristone is one of two medications commonly used in medication abortion. It is also used in miscarriage care, helping people safely manage pregnancy loss without unnecessary delays. Restricting access to this medication is not just about mifepristone. It is about power and control over who gets to make decisions about their own body,” Simpson said.

    The FDA approved mifepristone as a safe and effective way to terminate pregnancy in 2000 and loosened restrictions on the drug in 2021 so that patients could receive the medication by mail.

    Dr. Neil Winawer with Emory University School of Medicine told Fox 5 Atlanta that this change was mostly due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    “During the pandemic in 2021, it was dangerous to be around patients and so this really grew out of that, and because of that, in 2021, the FDA said it was okay to be able to provide abortion care services via telemedicine and prescribe mifepristone,” he said.

    The Supreme Court is expected to make another decision on the case in the coming weeks.

    “Once again, our rights are in limbo, and once again the constant rollercoaster of court orders will cause confusion among everyday people just trying to get care. But make no mistake: abortion is still legal in Georgia. Feminist Center will continue to offer care, including prescribing mifepristone. And we will fill in any gaps that this judicial back-and-forth has manufactured,” said Kwajelyn Jackson, the executive director of the Feminist Center for Reproductive Liberation, in a news release.