SHREVEPORT – Louisiana ranks as the least healthy state according to the 2025 America’s Health Rankings annual report, a position the state has held each year since 2021.
The report, compiled by the United Health Foundation, analyzes 99 measures of health and well-being ranging from premature death rates to air and water quality to behavioral health.
LSU Shreveport is aiming to improve this standing with its participation in national Public Health Awareness Week, which takes place April 6-12.
The University’s public health faculty and students are hosting two free workshops and a public health awareness walk this coming week.
Tuesday’s training – Mental Health First Aid Training – is free to all LSUS students (30 seats available). The training, which is organized in collaboration with the Louisiana Public Health Institute, lasts from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the University Center’s DeSoto Room. LSUS students can register via the Anchored In app.
The public health walk is taking place Wednesday at noon with people gathering in front of the University Center to walk around the interior of campus. All community members are invited.
A training on vector-borne disease management will occur Thursday on the third floor of the Noel Memorial Library from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Gulf South VECTOR will educate students and professionals from environmental health and pest control about the identification and management of diseases spread by mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, and mites. Visit the registration page for more information.
“Public health initiatives and policies improve life expectancy and quality of life, and those results don’t happen just by accident,” said Dr. Matthew Kelley, director of the LSUS Master of Public Health program, a joint venture with LSU Health Sciences Shreveport. “Everyone from community health workers to medical professionals to scientists and advocates push for policies grounded in evidence and focused on equity.”
Public health takes a macro view of the health of its communities, carrying out activities and policies meant to improve the lives of every population.
Dr. Collins Adjei, president of LSUS’s Public Health Student Association, flocked to public health after more than five years as a clinical practitioner in Ghana and critical care in the United States.
“Seeking education in public health stemmed from my clinical experience and what I learned during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Adjei said. “Initially I was thinking of going into surgery, but what COVID-19 did to humanity changed my course of thinking.
“I started engaging in health outreach, community outreach, and I realized there’s a bunch of things we need to communicate to the community. We can reduce the high rate of hospital admissions and mortality rate by pursuing community outreach and education.”
Dania Alqam moved to the United States during COVID-19, seeing differences in how the pandemic was treated in different places.
“I saw a huge difference in how COVID-19 was dealt with from a rules and regulations standpoint,” Alqam said. “That experience got me interested in thinking about disparities in healthcare in general.
“Public health aims to get rid of those disparities, and working in the emergency department for two years, I saw a lot of disparity and social inequity. I want to help make a difference.”
Tarlissea Gipson chose public health after being the primary caretaker of her daughter with Type 1 diabetes.
Public health initiatives focus on the prevention or maintenance of conditions and environments that contribute to decreased public health.
Examples include nutrition and health campaigns designed to decrease over consumption of sugar/alcohol/tobacco, response to increased heat from a changing climate, and improvement of systems like public education, housing and transportation that affect the social and economic determinants of health.
“If you can smell it, taste it, see it, touch it, or hear it – that’s public health,” said Renae Taylor, coordinator of LSUS’s Master of Public Health program.”
LSUS offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public health, producing professionals that are promoting messages of healthy living to Louisiana residents.
For more information, visit the academic webpages for the bachelor’s and master’s programs in public health.
