Media Coverage
Partners in Health: targeting health equity in the USA
The Lancet / February 3, 2024
Partners in Health, known for its work in some of the world's poorest countries, has begun efforts to strengthen health care in the USA.
Congress Recognizes Community Health Workers Through Awareness Week Resolution
National Association of Community Health Workers / September 29, 2023
Senator Bob Casey, Jr., and Representative Raul Ruiz, M.D. introduced a resolution designating the week of August 28 - September 1, 2023, as “National Community Health Worker Awareness Week.” The legislation was supported by National Association of Community Health Workers and PIH-US.
Limit On Medical Care For Immigrants Hurts All Floridians
Orlando Sentinel / June 1, 2023
The Florida Immigrant Coalition and PIH-US raise concerns that a new state law requiring hospitals to inquire about immigration status during the admission process will deter a population already facing significant barriers from accessing health services all together.
A Boom And Bust Of Community Health Workers
Politico / May 8, 2023
Community health workers, who have used their local connections to encourage Covid-19 care through the pandemic, saw a major increase in federal funding through the pandemic. But the money is starting to run out, and many community health workers trained through the pandemic face layoffs.
Opinion: Enlist Community Health Workers To Help Patients Beyond The Exam Room
U.S. News & World Report / December 1, 2022
Sheila Davis, CEO of Partners In Health discuss why community health leaders at the local, national and global levels should advocate for those who help make care accessible to the most marginalized people and places.
Healthcare Outreach In Immokalee Continues Beyond COVID-19
WGCU / August 4, 2022
In early 2020, PIH committed to assisting communities in the United States after seeing the persistent spread of COVID-19 and the challenges local health care systems were facing to combat infection rates, specifically in underserved areas like Immokalee, FL.
NACCHO Announces The 2022 Innovative Practice Award Winners
NACCHO / July 30, 2022
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) named its 2022 Innovative Practice Award Winners. The award is a recognition of programs developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrating effective community partnerships and collaboration, adaptability and program resilience, and remarkable innovation. Pima County HD/GIS, PIH-US, and Surgo Ventures won the Silver 2022 Innovative Practice Award for their COVID-19 Vaccine Solutions Dashboard.
An Antiracist Agenda For Medicine
Boston Review / March 17, 2022
Colorblind solutions have failed to achieve racial equity in health care. We need both federal reparations and real institutional accountability.
Ebola, COVID & Putin: Various Viruses with Erin Polich
Brews & News Podcast / March 2, 2022
Erin Polich guest hosts for a tribute to Paul Farmer and a deadly conversation on Ebola, jet skis in Juba, masks against COVID-19 (this is a joke), accidentally crossing international borders, and yes, Vladimir Putin (this is not a joke).
Chicago Schools See Slowdown In COVID Vaccine Uptake
Chalkbeat Chicago / February 14, 2022
Three months after Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine received authorization for 5- to 11-year-olds, vaccine uptake in the age group has seen marginal movement with less than a quarter of Chicago Public Schools students fully vaccinated.
Biden's Thousands Of Promised Health Care Jobs Poised To Vanish
Bloomberg Law / February 14, 2022
Billions of federal dollars to bolster public health departments nationwide may not have a lasting impact when the pool of cash dwindles, officials worry. That has raised fears many of these departments will end up where they were before 2020: short-staffed and unprepared for a pandemic.
Rich Nation, Unequal Health Care: Why A Charity That's Helped Haiti Is Aiding The U.S.
NPR / December 18, 2021
America spends $3.8 trillion on health care annually, more than any other country. Yet when it comes to creating a more equitable public health system, it could learn a thing or two from some of the world's poorest nations, says Katie Bollbach, executive director of Partners In Health United States.
Community Groups Step In To Improve 42% COVID-19 Vaccination Rate
Chicago Sun Times / December 17, 2021
"No one is going to listen to you unless you’re a trusted messenger,” said Ciara Stanton, community engagement manager for the Chicagoland Vaccine Partnership, which is managed by Partners In Health and coordinates funding for dozens of community groups promoting and hosting mass vaccinations.
Global Nonprofit To Help Expand Health Worker Staffs In Alabama
AL.com / October 28, 2021
A global health nonprofit is investing in healthcare for low-income communities in the Black Belt after recognizing health disparities in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vaccines and Tamales: NC Pharmacists Bringing COVID Shots to Farm Workers, Families
The News & Observer / October 18, 2021
Since July, Lee, Alfred Catolico and other health care volunteers have spent their weekends at the Episcopal Farm Workers Ministry vaccinating hundreds of migrant workers, their families and another Spanish-speaking immigrants at pop-up clinics at the ministry’s headquarters and nearby businesses.
City Officials, Community Leaders Hit Streets to Urge People to Get First COVID-19 Shots, Boosters, And Flu Shots
CBS Chicago / October 16, 2021
Ten months after the first COVID-19 vaccinations were given to Americans, the city and country are entering a new phase as the booster shot becomes available.
NCDHHS Awarded $9M from CDC to Support Statewide Community Health Worker Infrastructure
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services / September 28, 2021
North Carolina’s Community Health Worker Initiative will expand as part of the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion's Community Health Workers for COVID Response and Resilient Communities (CCR) initiative. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services was awarded a total of $9 million with $3 million per year distributed over the next three years.
United Community Corp. Hosts Community Health, Wellness Fair at West Side Park
RLS Media / September 22, 2021
In an increased outreach effort to spread informational awareness about the COVID-19 vaccine, United Community Corp. has partnered with the Essex County Department of Health to provide on-site, walk-up COVID-19 vaccinations. UCC's outreach efforts are thanks to grant funding from Partners In Health.
Beyond Sunday Service: How One Montgomery Church Is Bringing Health Equity to Their Community
Freethink / August 23, 2021
As a collaboration between the Metropolitan United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Alabama and nonprofit organizations ideas42 and Partners In Health, Get Out the Vaccine initiative educates residents about vaccination and helps them sign up for and get to vaccine appointments.
‘Who Is Going to Help Me?’: How a Florida Team Brings Healthcare to This Community
Naples Daily News / August 23, 2021
Healthcare Network partners with global nonprofit Partners In Health, the Florida Department of Health in Collier County, which offers space for vaccination clinics, and community anchors, Misión Peniel and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, to increase the impact of the outreach.
With All Eyes on COVID Vaccination Rates, Funders Nationwide Battle Hesitancy and Inequity
Inside Philanthropy / August 11, 2021
Max Clermont, Senior Project Lead at Partners In Health’s U.S. Public Health Accompaniment Unit, says that with these diverse public-private partnerships, Partners In Health hopes to “expand the definition of public health work among funders to include CBOs that are trusted by their communities, but not traditionally thought of as public health organizations.”
For Real Vaccine Equity, Invest in Community-Based Solutions
The Hill / August 11, 2021
Sheila Davis, CEO of Partners In Health, and Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) discuss the importance of investing in a community-based health workforce that will outlast this pandemic and equitably serve communities well into the future.
Montgomery: An Intentional Approach to Vaccination
AL.com / August 4, 2021
Cicily Gray, Senior Project Lead of Partners In Health’s U.S. Public Health Accompaniment Unit, Grace Lesser, Senior Strategic Partnerships Lead, and Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed discuss the importance of vaccination and reflect on Montgomery's vaccination strategy thus far.
Ensuring Equitable Access to Vaccines
Stanford Social Innovation Review / June 29, 2021
As the United States struggles to vaccinate everyone in the nation, governments and community-based organizations trying to eliminate barriers to access for high-risk, rural, and remote communities must consider geography, partnerships, language, schedules, and technology.
Prioritizing those most at risk in the next push of vaccine rollout
Exemplars in Global Health / May 24, 2021
Last month, every adult in the United States became eligible for COVID-19 vaccination. In light of surging cases and evolving variants here and around the world, it was an important step forward. However, it is just as important to highlight that eligibility does not equal access.
Health care agencies team up to vaccinate Collier County
South Central Florida Life / May 20, 2021
Local health care providers in Collier County have been working to ensure equitable access for minority groups in Immokalee to COVID-19 vaccines, trying to help families who have faced adverse conditions that make it difficult to receive adequate health care in the midst of the pandemic.
For Partners In Health, Vaccination Equity Starts in the Community
Healthcare Innovation / May 10, 2021
Recent federal funding has played in a role in hiring community health workers and “vaccine ambassadors,” but the CEO of Partners In Health believes these hired helpers should stick around for the long haul.
How harm reduction models can save US lives in the pandemic
The Guardian / May 9, 2021
While harm reduction has largely been used to combat drug abuse and HIV/Aids, it could inform the coming months and how the US tackles future health crises, experts say.
Here Comes the COVID-19 Community Corps And They Want You
Bloomberg / May 5, 2021
From a Maine farm to church pews and Instagram, vaccine foot soldiers are out in force, gunning to meet Biden's 70% goal.
City of Montgomery Launches Vaccine Confidence Campaign to Engage Marginalized Communities
Alabama News Network / April 16, 2021
On Wednesday, April 14, Mayor Steven L. Reed announced the launch of a new campaign to support the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine. The campaign is a combined effort by the City of Montgomery, local community-based organizations, and Partners In Health, a public health and social justice organization working to ensure a more efficient and equitable response to COVID-19.
Our commitment to COVID-19 vaccine equity
Google.org / April 15, 2021
Google.org is providing $2.5 million in grant funding to Partners In Health, Stop the Spread and Team Rubicon, who are working directly with over 500 community-based organizations to serve Black, Latino and rural communities. This funding will go toward efforts like pop-up vaccination sites.
Legislation to provide greater oversight of federal prisons’ COVID-19 efforts reintroduced to Congress
Homeland Preparedness News / April 5, 2021
U.S. Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-CA) and U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) recently reintroduced the Federal Correctional Facilities COVID-19 Response Act to revise the prison system’s COVID-19 response. Beyond the halls of Congress, the legislation has also been endorsed by Partners in Health, The Sentencing Project, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and dozens of health experts from institutions across the United States.
Partners In Health, local community leaders discuss promoting health equity in Pima County
KOLD News 13 / April 7, 2021
The Pima County Health Department is celebrating National Public Health Week through April 11 with a screening of the documentary Bending the Arc – followed by an online panel discussion April 8, 1-2 p.m.
Mind the gap: It takes a community to ensure a fair vaccine roll-out
News-Press / March 28, 2021
Immokalee is a small, unincorporated farming community located just north of the Everglades in Southwest Florida, home primarily to migrant farmworkers. So when late model luxury cars and expensive SUVs started rolling into the Winn-Dixie parking lot for the mass DOH COVID-19 vaccination event in Immokalee in early January, something was clearly amiss.
Groceries And Rent Money: Why Support For COVID Isolation Is More Important Than Ever
NPR / March 19, 2021
While everyone's hopes are trained on COVID-19 vaccines to lead the way out of the pandemic, public health experts say that other public health tools are still crucial for stopping the virus. One of those tools — contact tracing — may finally be ready to have its moment.
A ray of hope in a year of misery with Dr. Joia Mukherjee
Crooked Media / March 16, 2021
Abdul reflects on a year of COVID-19 and discusses what’s in the COVID-19 relief package. He then talks to Dr. Joia Mukherjee, Chief Medical Officer at Partners in Health, a global health non-profit organization operating in the US and abroad, about what it will take for America to lead globally on COVID-19.
Balance of Power
Bloomberg TV / March 15, 2021
Dr. Sheila Davis joined Bloomberg TV’s David Westin on “Balance of Power” [15:45] to walk through the American Rescue Plan and the impact of a community-based public health workforce. Watch the segment to learn what we like—and what we don’t—about the mammoth appropriation bill that President Joe Biden signed into law this month.
The workers who could get us through this crisis
CNN / February 24, 2021
Two overlapping crises have our country in a literal death grip: the Covid-19 pandemic that has killed more than 500,000 people, and the crushing economic downturn. We believe there's something that can help. Building a new public health workforce will provide permanent, quality jobs to bolster neglected health systems; create new career pathways, particularly for women and people of color; and ensure greater health equity in the Black and brown communities hardest hit by the virus.
Contact tracing expands as COVID-19 cases continue to climb
ABC Boston (Channel 5) / January 15, 2021
With arrival of vaccines is chasing the virus still worth doing?
COVID-19 contact tracer leaves no 'stone unturned'
Telegram & Gazette / December 7, 2020
For Alexander Miamen, it involves being a detective, being a public health advocate and even being a dog-walking coordinator. Welcome to the world of a community contact tracer for COVID-19.
Coronavirus Contact Tracers Remain Critical In Stemming The Spread, Lending A Helping Hand
CBS Boston / August 17, 2020
Three months into Massachusetts’ phased re-opening, warnings from coronavirus hot spots continue.
How the Pandemic Defeated America
The Atlantic / August 4, 2020
A virus has brought the world’s most powerful country to its knees.
Emotional Calls And Weekend Worries: Working As A Coronavirus Contact Tracer
WGBH / May 28, 2020
Dallas Paiva was excited and nervous as she picked up the phone and made her first call as a Massachusetts contact tracer. The goal of the state’s Contact Tracing Collaborative is to reach out to every person who tested positive for the novel coronavirus or might have been exposed and help them isolate themselves so the virus can’t spread.
A Race Is On to Recruit Virus Sleuths as States Re-Open
Bloomberg News / May 23, 2020
To contain Covid-19, local health officials need contact tracers to track the pathogen. Can they hire enough of them in time?
The Audacious Project announces new efforts in response to COVID-19
TEDBlog / May 13, 2020
In response to the unprecedented impact of COVID-19, The Audacious Project, a collaborative funding initiative housed at TED, will direct support towards solutions tailored to rapid response and long-term recovery. Audacious has catalyzed more than $30 million towards the first three organizations in its COVID-19 rapid response cohort: Partners In Health will rapidly increase the scale, speed and effectiveness of contact tracing in the US.
What It’s Like to Be a Massachusetts Contact Tracer
Boston Magazine / May 13, 2020
On the front lines of the state's closely watched program, a small army of people are making difficult phone calls every day.
A Day In The Life Of A Coronavirus Contact Tracer
WBUR / May 7, 2020
It’s been a month since Gov. Charlie Baker announced a dramatic expansion of efforts to reach everyone who tests positive for the coronavirus, make sure they are in isolation and then track and test all of their close contacts to stop the spread.
Lessons From Ebola and Cholera Could Help Us Get Out of This Sooner
Slate / April 27, 2020
These interventions are relatively cheap and community-based. Can America implement them?
Inside an 'army' of COVID-19 contact tracers in Massachusetts
NBC News / April 27, 2020
With the coronavirus still plaguing much of the country, contact tracing is seen as a key tool in the effort to stop the chain of transmission and help facilitate a safe reopening of the United States.
Global Health Doctor: Hire 1000s of Contact Tracers to Stop COVID-19, Save Lives and the Economy
Democracy Now / April 23, 2020
As parts of the United States and Europe consider reopening, most of the world’s population remains susceptible to the coronavirus. We look at new efforts to stop the deadly spread of COVID-19 with contact tracing — finding who infected patients have been in contact with so they can get tested and isolated.
Massachusetts Expands Contact Tracing For People With COVID-19
NPR / April 21, 2020
NPR's David Greene talks to Dr. Joia Mukherjee, chief medical officer at Partners In Health, about Massachusetts embarking on a mass contact-tracing project, and how the program works.
It’s Not Too Late to Go on Offense Against the Coronavirus
New Yorker / April 20, 2020
People who have fought epidemics in the past know the reality: there is no way out of our predicament but to build a full, five-part response and keep it in place for the foreseeable future.
An Army of Virus Tracers Takes Shape in Massachusetts
The New York Times / April 16, 2020
Asian countries have invested heavily in digital contact tracing, which uses technology to warn people when they have been exposed to the coronavirus. Massachusetts is using an old-fashioned means: people.
Experts are talking a lot about the importance of "contact tracing." Here's exactly what that means
CNN / April 13, 2020
Dr. Joia Mukherjee, the chief medical officer at Partners in Health, a global health organization, says contract tracing is an important step to decreasing the number of cases of coronavirus.
Massachusetts Recruits 1,000 'Contact Tracers' To Battle COVID-19
NPR / April, 13, 2020
Massachusetts is launching an effort to reach everyone in the state who may have the coronavirus and get them tested and into isolation or treatment if needed. The ambitious goal is to stop — not just slow — the destructive power of COVID-19 through the tedious, yet powerful public health tool called contact tracing.
Dr. Joia Mukherjee Of Partners In Health Explains How Massachusetts Will Try To Track Every Case Of Coronavirus
WGBH / April 6, 2020
Governor Charlie Baker announced Friday that a community tracing collaborative will launch in Massachusetts by the end of April that aims to investigate every case of coronavirus transmission. The program will be the first of its kind in the nation.
Charlie Baker announces ‘robust’ coronavirus contact tracing program in Massachusetts
Boston Herald / April 3, 2020
The state is launching a new COVID-19 tracing program to track the spread of the contagious disease from person to person, Gov. Charlie Baker announced Friday.