With one in five Chicagoans facing food insecurity, residents are working to feed their own with grassroots efforts led by community nonprofits.

“This has been a dream of ours for many years,” CEO Courtney Sakai said following a ribbon-cutting ceremony for JASC’s new building. “We’ve always envisioned a community destination where we could serve all and expand our programs.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s views on health and his stated policy initiatives could have far-reaching effects on public health, including on policies in Illinois. Kennedy has often encouraged healthier food consumption for Americans — a goal Illinois Democrats could support. But Kennedy holds other views at odds with science.

A newly announced program at Cook County Health will connect pregnant patients with doulas in an effort to address high rates of maternal mortality and birth complications that disproportionately affect Black women.

Trump's choices don't have experience running large bureaucratic agencies, but they know how to talk about health on TV.

Travel can be stressful in the best of times. Now add in the high-level anxiety that seems to be baked into every holiday season and it's clear that travelers could use some help calming frazzled nerves.

The study found Black women face more than double the rate of severe complications than White women. Additionally, living in high-poverty neighborhoods elevated maternal health risks across all racial groups.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration spent more than 15 years crafting the guidelines, which are designed to do away with industry practices that downplay or distract viewers from risk information.

The state is partnering with the nonprofit Undue Medical Debt, which can buy debt from collection agencies, hospitals and similar entities for just a few cents per dollar. Every $1 collected translates into $100 of debt relief by the nonprofit, which partners with governments on debt forgiveness programs.

The Illinois Nurses Association represents 1,700 nurses at UI Hospital who have been in contract negotiations since June. Nurses at the hospital system initially went on strike for one week when their contract ended in August. For the current strike, the nurses’ union did not give hospital leadership a strike end date.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s spending plan for 2025 earmarks nearly $700 million for the Chicago Department of Public Health, which is charged with fighting the spread of communicable diseases, providing mental health care and ensuring the safety of food at restaurants and festivals.

A study by the American Psychology Association reports that 77% of U.S. adults say the nation’s future is a significant source of stress in their lives. This category of mental health is known as socio-political stress and it seems more prevalent to people who are politically active compared to those not engaged in politics. 

Designed to stop drivers from endangering pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders by parking and stopping in lanes designated for bicyclists and buses, the new initiative is set to last two years, and would target scofflaws downtown between the lake, Ashland Avenue, Roosevelt Road and North Avenue.

Forecasts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that this respiratory disease season will be similar to last year’s — which brought more than 20 hospitalizations for every 100,000 people in one week at its peak — and far worse than in pre-pandemic years.

In the spring of 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the longstanding abortion protections established under Roe v. Wade, leaving decisions about the reproductive health care procedure up to the states. For Hoosier Abbey Hall, she never imagined such a change would impact her.

Latinos account for the largest share of new HIV diagnoses and infections among men who have sex with men — more than any other ethnic and racial demographic, according to an analysis from KFF News-Associated Press. There are over 22,000 people living with HIV in Chicago and the city saw 700 new HIV diagnoses in 2022.