What Communities Need to Thrive: Q&A with Anita Chandra
Anita Chandra, vice president and director of RAND Social and Economic Well-Being, focuses on issues of health, well-being, and equity. She is researching how to create a culture of health, how to address inequities in the U.S. health system, and disaster response and resilience, especially in the context of the pandemic.
Mar 8, 2021
Understanding Our Culture of Health Before the Pandemic Can Help Us Improve It Afterward
Measuring health and the social and economic factors that influenced it before the pandemic helps us understand the kind of risks the United States faced previously. It can also inform how to move forward toward recovery.
Jan 29, 2021 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Culture of Health blog
How Much Do Americans Value Their Health During the Pandemic?
Do Americans believe that limiting the spread of COVID-19 justifies the social and economic costs of physical-distancing measures? Researchers conducted a survey to better understand how Americans weigh health against other priorities.
Oct 29, 2020 The RAND Blog
Choosing a Different Path for a Healthier Future After COVID-19
Today, every American community is sitting at a crossroads, as local governments continue to address the health crisis of COVID-19 while grappling with the financial realities of maintaining operations. While some communities may take a more traditional route of only investing further in health care services, there is an opportunity to take a more holistic approach and address the multitude of factors that have contributed to the devastation of COVID-19.
Oct 2, 2020 The RAND Blog
Don't Waste This Crisis: How America Can Begin Building a System of Health
COVID-19 is shining a harsh spotlight on long-recognized but under-addressed gaps in the U.S. health system. There may never have been a more pressing time to think differently, broadening from health care services to a health-producing System of Health.
May 4, 2020 The RAND Blog
Reopening America—The Health and Economic Trade-Offs: Q&A with RAND Experts
Local and state officials are thinking through whether, when, and how to lift social-distancing restrictions. We asked three RAND researchers about the complex problem of reopening.
May 4, 2020
Rx Civic Engagement: Keeping the Public Engaged in Public Health
Civic engagement—activities like voting and volunteering—is essential for the health of democracy. A turn at the ballot box might also improve physical and mental health.
Feb 4, 2020 Las Vegas Sun
New Data on How We're Measuring a Culture of Health
We are seeing small but positive changes in the appreciation of the social determinants of health and the need for broader community health investments. People are expanding their views of what influences health and there have been some targeted improvements in health care and public health access. Yet, the critical systemic changes needed for more transformative health improvements have been slower to follow.
Sep 13, 2019 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Culture of Health blog
Measuring Progress Toward a Culture of Health... at the Library
Libraries can provide much more than books and internet access. Libraries across the United States are evolving to play a bigger role in community health. Many offer nutrition programs, mental health support, and even free bike-shares.
Nov 21, 2018 Health Affairs Blog
Local Development of a Culture of Health: Learning from Sentinel Communities
The Culture of Health project focuses on making health a priority in communities. As the United States grapples with health care spending and changing demographics, the Sentinel Communities project will illuminate stories from local communities and paint a picture of the ways communities strive to improve population health.
Aug 1, 2018 Health Affairs Blog
What Hurricane Katrina Taught Us About Community Resilience
Hurricane Katrina left a path of destruction, death, and suffering in its wake. Its recovery, halting and incomplete as it has been, has taught us valuable lessons about resiliency.
Sep 8, 2015 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Culture of Health blog
Wellbeing Project to Weave Science Into Government Decisions
Wellbeing is about individuals having the skills and opportunity to live a meaningful life. There are countless things that cities do that either contribute or detract from that sense of meaning. Santa Monica's Wellbeing Project is working to fundamentally change how the government thinks about its citizens.
Apr 29, 2015 Santa Monica Daily Press
Here's to Our Health
Atop the new mayor's agenda should be improving the health and well-being of Pittsburgh residents. With an unassailable electoral mandate in hand, Mr. Peduto is positioned to take bold steps. And the best way to do that is by applying scientific and medical evidence to shape an integrated, citywide, health-policy framework.
Nov 25, 2013 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Translating Policy Into Action to Build Community Resilience
The philosophy and motivation surrounding community resilience has strongly resonated with community leaders but there remains a divide between how experts articulate resilience policy and how that policy translates to on-the-ground implementation. Building Community Resilience: An Online Training addresses that tension.
Sep 4, 2013 The RAND Blog
Planning for Superstorms, Wildfires, and Deep Uncertainty
The path to climate change preparedness should start at the intersection of resilience and robustness — that is, building resilient communities with the individuals and organizations within those communities making robust decisions, ones designed to work well over a wide range of ever-changing conditions.
Apr 18, 2013 The RAND Blog
'New Normal' Requires New Ways to Support Social and 'Human' Recovery
Recent global disasters vividly illustrate that recovery entails more than simply restoring physical infrastructure such as roads and buildings; it is also a long process of restoring the social infrastructure—the daily routines and networks that support the physical and mental health and well-being of the population, write Anita Chandra and Joie Acosta.
Nov 26, 2012 The RAND Blog
Why Aren't Americans Listening to Disaster Preparedness Messages?
Given the recent spate of highly publicized disasters, why don't more Americans pay attention to the advice of public health officials? The messages they are getting are largely based on unverified assumptions, not hard evidence. Equally concerning, these assumptions may inadvertently hinder preparedness.
Jun 29, 2012 The RAND Blog
A Month After the Earthquake: Opportunities Slipping Away
Previous efforts by the international community to stabilize Haiti have met with little or only short-term success. This time, following the earthquake, the U.S. response could actually leverage the response and recovery opportunities into a broader international plan, write Agnes Gereben Schaefer and Anita Chandra.
Feb 24, 2010 RAND.org and GlobalSecurity.org
Human Side of Katrina Recovery Still Needs Work
Four years after Hurricane Katrina, many people in the Gulf Coast region are still "just surviving," write Anita Chandra and Joie Acosta.
Oct 17, 2009 Montgomery Advertiser
