Health

U.S. life expectancy was already lower than other high-income nations and the gap was widening before 2019. Since then, things have gotten worse. New research found that in 2020, life expectancies here dropped disproportionately for marginalized, racialized populations. Especially for Native American and Alaska Native groups

COVID-19 cases are increasing in most of the country, but it’s hard to say how much. That's due to at-home tests and vaccines, which mean fewer people need to go to a doctor for a diagnoses or aid. These are good signs, but they also make it hard to track the virus, which can be stressful for people who are immunocompromised or can’t get the vaccine.

A CDC report shows the number of babies born with syphilis in the U.S. has surged. Some Mountain West states had the highest rates during the first year of the pandemic.

With a warming climate and drought throughout our region, Colorado’s fire season is getting longer. More smoke, as well as emissions and smog, is contributing to Colorado’s already bad air quality. Add allergies to that, and it can be hard for people to breathe.

On today’s Colorado Edition, we talk with education advocate Pius Kamau about how colleges and universities can and should do more to increase access to higher education for low-income students and students of color. And we explore new legislation that aims to help more Coloradans get the behavioral healthcare they need.

Health officials detected H5N1 influenza – known as avian flu – in the nose of a 40-year-old man who was culling the chickens in Montrose County as part of a prison pre-release work program.

Colorado lawmakers voted to advance a bill Wednesday that would shift emergency medical service licensing power away from counties to the state, starting in July 2024.

During an ongoing mental health crisis, without easily accessible long-term care, many Coloradans with serious mental illness (SMI) end up cycling in and out of emergency departments and jails. A new bill aims to create more options by adding treatment beds at a state hospital as well as in smaller community facilities.

The program will focus on breast, colorectal and stomach cancers. It will start in Apache and Navajo communities, but the goal is to find solutions for any tribe.

It's been a year since a local group launched what's called the Colorado Naloxone Project, an ambitious effort to combat the opioid overdose crisis that plagues our region, as well as much of the country. Naloxone is a safe drug used to counteract overdoses. And the project is designed to get naloxone into the hands of people most at risk for overdoses.Dr. Don Stader, chair of the Colorado Naloxone Project, joins KUNC's Yoselin Meza Miranda to discuss this effort.