Issues Overview
Healthy kids learn better, and they also grow up to be healthier, happier, and more productive adults. Upstream Public Health believes Oregon should use our K-12 public schools to ensure Oregon’s youth have their best chance of success in school and in life.
Simply put, tobacco kills. It is the leading cause of preventable death in Oregon. And at Upstream we are working hard to end these needless deaths. Since almost all smokers start when they are just kids much of our work focuses on preventing youth from picking up this deadly habit.
Transportation and Land Use is a fancy way of saying “the places where we live, work, and play and the options we have for moving around those places.” It includes everything from whether kids can safely catch a bus to school to whether city zoning codes allow worksites to be located near neighborhoods.
Temperature increases and extreme weather events associated with climate change have significant impacts on public health through heat stress, vector-borne diseases, malnutrition and other drought-related problems, respiratory and allergic disease, and developmental effects like pre-term birth.
Water Fluoridation and the Dental Health Crisis
Portland, Oregon is in the midst of a dental health crisis where one in five children is suffering from untreated decay and lower income kids are suffering even worse rates of decay. Oregonians are faring much worse then those living in neighboring states, including largely fluoridated Washington State, which has half the rate of untreated decay. The kids in the Portland Metro area have 40% more decay than kids in Seattle (fluoridated). That’s si...
There's no reason why someone's health should be determined by their zip code – but it is. Historical social injustices have led to higher rates of poverty, segregation, unsafe neighborhoods, and poor education outcomes for certain populations. As a result, people of color and those experiencing poverty have lower life expectancies, poorer birth outcomes, and higher risk for chronic diseases.
But we know that everyone deserves an equal chance to be healthy and thrive.
What we eat and drink every day affects how we feel in the moment and our overall health. Upstream works to make quality, healthy food easy to get, cheaper, and available to everyone.