Opioid Epidemic:
According to the Centers for Disease Control,
drug overdoses killed more than 72,000 people in the United States in 2018
— a new record driven largely by the opioid epidemic.
While the opioid epidemic is a national issue, West Virginia is a state where more people have overdosed on opioids and died than in any other state in the nation.
In 2018, an article by The Washington Post focused on Williamson, West Virginia — a tiny town of fewer than 3,200 residents — and reported that this town was flooded with nearly 21 million pain pills over the past decade, nearly 6,500 pain pills per person. In another article from 2017, the Post shed light on the fact that the opioid deaths in West Virginia have overwhelmed a state program providing burial assistance, suggesting that “drugs are killing so many people in West Virginia that the state can’t keep up with the funerals.”
It’s clear that the state of West Virginia is in crisis when it comes to its public health needs — especially when examining the opioid epidemic. Thus, not only is WVU the flagship University for the state with the highest overdose death rate, it’s also the University that had been pioneering several efforts in the area of substance abuse. For instance, an assistant professor at WVU was recently awarded a $1 million grant from the National Institute of Justice in support of her work to develop artificial intelligence techniques to combat the opioid epidemic and opioid trafficking.
Similarly, Sara Warfield, a third-year PhD student in the School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, is using her graduate assistantship at the Injury Control Research Center to research the distribution and determinants of the current opioid crisis, whether it’s around overdoses, treatment, or prevention programs.
Accessible Nutrition and Food Security:
ACCORDING TO FEEDINGAMERICA.ORG, IN THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA
Nearly 267,280 People are Struggling with Hunger, and 75,970 of them are Children
This same source asserts the notion that people facing hunger in WV will need an estimated $126,636,000 more per year in order to meet their food security needs.
Lauri Andress, an assistant professor in WVU's School of Public Health, examines how ease of access to different nutritious foods, particularly fresh produce, impacts our community's well-being, specifically focusing on seniors in the community.
Andress focuses on what she calls “upstream levers,” such as infrastructure investments, economic development and employment opportunities, that affect efforts “downstream” when it comes to how communities in rural regions acquire nutritious food. Andress asserts that creating more of these "upstream levers" would help prevent the spread of life-threatening conditions like heart disease and high blood pressure by providing communities with better quality food and overall nutrition.
In my research, I assume we have enough people working downstream — trying to teach people how to eat, looking at their bodies, their health or disease state. But what we don't have is enough people making the connection between context and policies, and how that contributes to what we as health practitioners do downstream. — Lauri Andress, Assistant Professor in WVU's School of Public Health
Similarly, Rachel Wattick, a doctoral student specializing in social and behavioral sciences at WVU’s School of Public Health is using her graduate research assistantship to explore the association between a range of vegetarian diets and diabetes outcomes. West Virginia University is also working toward becoming the world’s first Blue Zones Certified university. The Blue Zones Project is an initiative designed to help community members live longer, healthier lives and alleviate their chronic diseases.
Professionals like these help to guide organizations and institutions in the delivery and management of healthy food distribution, using research studies to convert statistics into impactful policy that will improve the well-being of West Virginians at large.
