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Over a decade ago, Dr. Nicola Hawley, PhD, connected with a colleague in American Samoa to learn more about prenatal care delivery and how pregnancy might provide an opportunity to impact chronic disease prevention interventions.
Obesity and overweight are highly prevalent among pregnant Samoan women, and a previous study conducted by Dr. Hawley and her colleagues found those conditions to be associated with adverse maternal and infant health outcomes. They also discovered a lack of data about gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in the U.S. territory, but they estimate that about 40% of women in American Samoa will develop GDM during pregnancy. At the time, screening rates for gestational diabetes were low, largely due to a lack of awareness about the condition and issues with supply-side service provision.
- September 13, 2024
Pregnant women who participated in a group prenatal care intervention focused on healthy lifestyle choices and weight management significantly reduced their risk of excess pregnancy weight gain and gestational diabetes, according to a new study led by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health, Brown University, and the Lyndon B. Johnson Tropical Medical Center in American Samoa.
- July 19, 2024
The Yale Institute for Global Health (YIGH) has selected Nicola Hawley, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, to receive the 2024 Hecht Global Health Faculty Network Award. Her project, affiliated with the Yale Network for Global NCDs (NGN), will focus on adapting and pilot testing an intervention designed to promote mental health among adolescents in American Samoa.
- March 27, 2024Source: ABC Pacific
The Yale School of Public Health's Ola Tuputupua'e study has followed the same Samoan children over nine years to better understand and prevent childhood obesity in Samoa.
- February 06, 2024
YSPH researchers are studying obesity in Samoa, including the first longitudinal study of child health in the Pacific.
- October 06, 2023Source: Yale Daily News
In a recent study, researchers at the School of Public Health found that despite successful local efforts to improve mental health infrastructure, more steps must be taken to combat mental illness among adolescents in American Samoa.
- July 24, 2023
On the morning of the 12th annual Global Health Day, March 16, 2023, Sheela Shenoi, MD, MPH, associate director of the Internal Medicine Office of Global Health and associate professor of medicine (infectious diseases) announced the winners of this year’s Global Health awards. Anne Havlik, MPH, won the Asghar Rastegar Global Health Medical Education & Capacity Building Award, and Kenneth Gunasekera, MD, PhD, won the Gerald Friedland Global Health Research Award.
- June 28, 2023
The American Samoa Community College (ASCC) and Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) have signed a memorandum of understanding creating an official partnership.
- April 24, 2023
A new research letter published in JAMA Pediatrics is the first to compare two methodological approaches to neonatal mortality rates side-by-side.
- January 12, 2020Source: Family Included
A survey of 15 fathers from American Samoan investigated their views about breastfeeding. The fathers showed strong support for breastfeeding—the best way to feed a child, build the mother-baby bond, save money, and maintain cultural norms. The fathers strongly supported more breastfeeding education for fathers. They emphasised the need for practical advice, rather than information about why breastfeeding is important (which they understood already).