Pew’s Health Initiatives

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria pose an urgent and growing public health threat. The more we use existing antibiotics, the less effective these life-saving drugs become. Pew supports policies and research that spur the creation of new antibiotics to defeat resistant infections; ensure that antibiotics are prescribed for human use only when necessary; and reduce the need for antibiotics in food animals.

Since 1985, Pew has supported the groundbreaking research of promising early-career biomedical scientists in the United States and Latin America. Our multiyear grants encourage informed risk-taking and collaboration among researchers. Biomedical scholars and Latin American fellows often become mentors to the next generation of grant recipients, and many have won major scientific awards.

The Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts, encouraged local, state, and national organizations to include health considerations in policy decisions across multiple sectors, such as housing, transportation, and education. Research shows that the conditions in which people live, learn, work, and play influence their health, so the project also worked to create cross-sector partnerships that included the expertise of health care and public health systems.

More than 2 million people with mental health conditions—including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and severe depression—are jailed each year, often for misdemeanor crimes. Three-quarters of these individuals have co-occurring substance use disorders.

State and local public health officials need timely, comprehensive health data from hospitals, doctors’ offices, and clinical labs to detect and respond to disease hot spots, contaminated food and water, and populations experiencing inequitable health outcomes such as higher rates of environmentally triggered conditions like asthma.

Substance use disorders and the harms associated with these diseases are a serious, growing public health problem. Nearly 48,000 Americans died from an opioid overdose in 2017. Pew develops and supports policies that would reduce the inappropriate use of prescription drugs while ensuring that patients have access to effective pain medication. .