How do we connect what we know about population health with what we do to improve it? The 2017 issue of Northwest Public Health examines the ties between social determinants and population health outcomes, and the successful policies, systems changes, interventions, innovations, and strategies being used to improve the health of whole populations.

Bill Radke talks with Aaron Katz, who teaches health policy the University of Washington School of Public Health, and retired physician Roger Stark, a healthcare analyst for the Washington Policy Center.

They discuss the current healthcare bill being debated in the Senate and the Congressional Budget Office score that predicts 22 million fewer Americans will have insurance by 2026.

Aaron Katz is also an Adjunct Principal Lecturer of Global Health at UW. 

In Nigeria, anti-gay laws can lead to punishments including 14 years in prison or even death by stoning. Gay men and women are banned from holding meetings or organizing in groups, and anyone who supports the union of a gay couple could spend a decade behind bars.

By Robert McSweeney

Up to three quarters of the world’s population could be at risk from deadly heat extremes by the end of the century, a new study suggests.

The research finds that just under a third of the global population is currently exposed to heat extremes that have resulted in deaths in the past. This will increase as global temperatures rise.

Keeping global warming to less than 2C above pre-industrial levels would limit the number at risk from potentially lethal heatwaves to around half of the global population.