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Public health refers to social, cultural, economic, and geographic conditions that affect a population's well-being. To assist local, national, and international health agencies and organizations, RAND conducts research on public health issues including disaster preparedness and recovery; surveillance, prevention, and management of infectious disease outbreaks; screening for and prevention of chronic diseases; and ways to strengthen the public health infrastructure.

Commentary
National Wastewater Tracking Could Help Us Stay Ahead of COVID-19—but Congress Cut the Funds
For years, medical experts have used wastewater to track the spread of diseases. The National Wastewater Surveillance System has the potential to significantly change the way we fight COVID-19 as well as future pandemics, bacterial diseases, and viruses. But building up the robustness of a wastewater surveillance system will take financial support, and it's not clear Congress will provide it.
Mar 24, 2022
Project
Informing the Gun Policy Debate
RAND's Gun Policy in America initiative provides information on what scientific research can tell us about the effects of gun laws. Our goal is to establish a shared set of facts that will improve public discussions and support the development of fair and effective gun policies.
Mar 2, 2018

Explore Public Health

Project
Evaluation of California's Statewide Mental Health Prevention and Early Intervention Initiatives
The RAND Corporation is evaluating California's statewide prevention and early intervention programs, which aim to reduce negative outcomes for people experiencing mental illness.
Nov 30, 2022
Journal Article
Has COVID-19 Changed How People Think About the Drivers of Health? If So, Does It Matter?
We assessed changes in health mindset associated with the COVID pandemic and found that respondents were more likely in 2021 than in 2018 to recognize social determinants of health. This is associated with greater openness to pandemic-control measures.
Nov 29, 2022
Journal Article
Incentives and Reminders to Improve Long-term Medication Adherence (INMIND): Protocol for a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
This study aims to test the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a novel intervention that uses SMS text messages and conditional incentives to support ART initiators in establishing pill-taking habits.
Nov 22, 2022
Journal Article
The Equity-First Vaccination Initiative's Challenges And Successes
RAND collected, analyzed, and co-interpreted with other Equity-First Vaccination Initiative (EVI) partners both quantitative and qualitative data to promote equity in the COVID-19 response through vaccination.
Nov 17, 2022
Blog
Lessons from the Pandemic, Diplomacy in Ukraine, Defending Taiwan: RAND Weekly Recap
This week, we discuss lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, planning to end the war in Ukraine, reducing deaths in law enforcement custody, and more.
Nov 4, 2022
Commentary
The Equity-First Vaccination Initiative's Challenges and Successes
The Equity-First Vaccination Initiative invested $21 million in community-based organizations to reduce racial disparities in vaccination rollout and support strengthening public health systems in the United States over the longer term. The initiative demonstrated a path forward for funders to center equity in their approach to grantmaking.
Nov 3, 2022
Report
Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Outbreak
The deadly havoc that COVID-19 has caused around the world has highlighted many weaknesses in pandemic response planning and capabilities. What can the United States and other nations do to prevent and manage future health crises?
Nov 1, 2022
Journal Article
Mental Health Emergency Hotlines in the United States: A Scoping Review (2012–2021)
This scoping review describes the current literature on mental health emergency hotlines in the United States, and also identifies gaps in the literature and presents recommendations.
Oct 24, 2022
Journal Article
Artificial Intelligence Applications Used in the Clinical Response to COVID-19: A Scoping Review
The authors identified 66 AI applications used to perform a wide range of diagnostic, prognostic, and triage functions in the clinical response to COVID-19. Some saw widespread use, though only a few were independently evaluated.
Oct 19, 2022
Tool
Getting To Outcomes® (GTO) Toolkit
The Getting To Outcomes®: Improving Community-Based Substance-Use Prevention project assesses the effectiveness of participatory methods meant to assist community coalitions in preventing substance abuse and to improve community health.
Sep 28, 2022
Report
Harnessing the Power of Science and Technology Communities for Crisis Response
In this Perspective, RAND researchers describe how the U.S. Department of Homeland Security could leverage science and technology communities to support the use of science, technology, innovation, and analytical capabilities during crisis response.
Sep 19, 2022
Blog
National Security After Roe, Women Veterans, COVID-19's Lasting Effects: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on how overturning Roe could affect national security, supporting women veterans, responding to the next pandemic, and more.
Sep 16, 2022
Journal Article
District-Level Universal Masking Policies and COVID-19 Incidence During the First 8 Weeks of School in Texas
We used quasi-experimental methods to analyze the impact of school mask mandates, which appear to have resulted in approximately 40 fewer student cases per week in the first eight weeks of school.
Sep 15, 2022
Journal Article
Equity as a Guiding Principle for the Public Health Data System
This article examines what it means to use equity as a guiding principle throughout the components and functions of a modern public health data system.
Sep 14, 2022
Journal Article
The Issues of Interoperability and Data Connectedness for Public Health
The article summarizes some of the challenges around data sharing and reuse and identifies where the technology and data sectors can contribute to fill current gaps to promote interoperability and data stewardship.
Sep 14, 2022
Journal Article
Technology and Data Implications for the Public Health Workforce
The article identifies where the technology and data sectors can contribute skills, expertise, and assets in support of innovative workforce models and augment the development of public health workforce competencies.
Sep 14, 2022
Journal Article
What Data Should Be Included in a Modern Public Health Data System
The article summarizes what data should be included in the public health data system and identifies where the technology and data sectors can contribute to fill current gaps to measure equity, positive health, and well-being.
Sep 14, 2022
Commentary
Can South Korea Help the World Beat the Next Pandemic?
As the world emerges from the long and devastating COVID-19 pandemic, nations around the world, including the United States, could look to South Korea's near-perfect response as a model for dealing with future public health crises.
Sep 7, 2022
Report
Public Health and Soft Power: The Republic of Korea's Initial COVID-19 Response and Its Implications
During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Republic of Korea (ROK) had one of the highest success rates in adopting effective nonpharmaceutical interventions. Can these pandemic response and foundation characteristics be turned into soft power assets for ROK?
Sep 7, 2022
Commentary
Vaccinating All Kids for COVID-19 May Demand a Block-by-Block Effort
Community-based organizations know how to register voters and increase census participation. Reaching out block by block, even door to door, they can be just as effective in boosting vaccination rates.
Aug 29, 2022

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