among girls by age 15 years was 21% in 2024, up from 16% in 2020. In the WHO African Region, which carries a disproportionate cervical cancer burden, first-dose coverage among girls by age 15 ...

The federally recommended vaccine schedule for American kids abruptly changed Monday when the Department of Health and Human Services removed several vaccines from the list of shots recommended for ...

The U.S. fertility rate—the number of children born to women of childbearing age—reached a record low in 2024. The average American woman between ages 15 and 44 gave birth to less than two children, ...

Gun violence is a public health epidemic that affects the well-being and public safety of all Americans. In 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data shows, 46,728 individuals ...

Alcohol use in the U.S. has been in decline since the late 1970s—54% of U.S. adults today say they consume alcohol—the lowest number in nearly 90 years and a 13% drop since just 2022. Fifty-three ...

Two people are standing in line at the grocery store. One has a cart full of instant ramen, hot dogs, ice cream, and soda, and the other has a cart full of whole grain bread, breakfast cereal, creamy ...

What if a vaccine could reduce your chances of heart attack, stroke, or dementia, and even save you money? It turns out: those vaccines already exist. Researchers are learning that vaccines against ...

The U.S. has reported more than 1,600 cases of measles to date in 2025, the largest number of cases since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000. Effectively responding to a measles outbreak ...

Mifepristone, also called “the abortion pill,” is a U.S. FDA-approved oral medication used—along with misoprostol—in a two-drug regimen to end a pregnancy up to 70 days into gestation. Decades of ...

The CDC also reports estimates of both medical and non-medical exemptions to vaccination requirements. While medical exemptions remained stable at 0.2% in 2024-25, non-medical exemptions reached an ...

Every year, typically at the end of January, teams of canvassers conduct a vital survey to count the number of people experiencing homelessness in America. This survey informs the U.S. Department of ...

On an 85-mile stretch of the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, communities exist alongside some 200 fossil fuel and petrochemical production plants. Since the 1980s, the area has ...