Public health advocacy must be taught

Solutions to public health problems have always lay in a combination of science and the hard work of advocates for social reform. However, in this new article for Health Affairs, Berkeley Media Studies Group Director Lori Dorfman and coauthors argue that there’s a disconnect between what public health professionals should be able to do to be effective and what’s actually being taught in schools of public health: “As our society struggles through the evolution of COVID-19, the crucial question is: Are we preparing the next generation of public health practitioners to not only investigate what harms health but also to advocate affirmatively for what is needed to advance health, particularly for groups plagued by structural inequities?”