Getting Our Heads out of the Sand: Using Evidence to Make Systemwide Changes

I am thrilled to provide commentary for this set of articles from the Community Preventive Services Task Force (Task Force) in the current American Journal of Preventive Medicine; as a public health practitioner striving to promote health equity in an urban city, I need all of the evidence-based help I can get. This is especially true when it comes to reducing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and the birth rate among teens in my city. In 2009, the teen birth rate in Baltimore City (64.4/1000) was double that of Maryland (31.2/1000). The birth rate among black teens (79.3/1000) was 2.8 times that of their white counterparts (28.4/1000). STI rates in 2009 for youth up to age 19 years in Baltimore are among the highest in the country—gonorrhea (1234.3/100,000) and chlamydia (4778.9/10...

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