Letter from the ED - November 2019

Welcome to Let's Talk Public Health!

Tis the season for many things: cold temperatures, the holiday rush, and, of course, one of the largest annual gatherings of public health professionals (the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting). 

The theme for this year’s annual meeting was: “Creating the Healthiest Nation: For science. For action. For health." In order for us to achieve this goal, we must take time to understand the nation’s people. Who are they? Where are they? What is their current health status? Which social determinants of health are impacting them? What barriers to healthy living and quality of life are they facing? What are their health-related knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors? And so on.

While there is a good deal of research on past generations, the literature on the newly coined “Gen Z” (those people currently ages 7-22) is limited, but growing. This fall, we aim to understand Gen Z -- their attitudes and beliefs around health and how they seek and interact with health information. 

Engaging Gen Z, the first generation of “digital natives,” will require public health organizations and brands to be up with the latest trends in digital content marketing. We’ll be talking about that as well. Stay tuned for our series on Gen Z + Health.

Best,
Monique Thornton, MPH