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Happy New Year, New York! Before we take on the (numerous) health challenges of 2025, I’d like to reflect on the many health successes in our state over the past year. Together, we are making big strides to build a healthier and safer community.
Public health is often only brought into the limelight when something scary happens, like Covid-19 or foodborne illness outbreaks. Its successes and what this field prevents are often invisible.
So I combed through a year’s worth of press releases, articles, and data to highlight public health accomplishments and achievements in New York this past year. Let’s share and celebrate the wins.
(Disclaimers: These are in no particular order, and I’m sure I missed some. Some of these accomplishments also happened in 2022 or 2023, but we learned about them in 2024 — I’m counting those as 2024 wins.)
Turning the tide
1-The steepest decline in overdose deaths in New York in a decade, thanks to education, access to treatment, and harm reduction. Naloxone can now be ordered online here, and more than 2 million fentanyl and xylazine test strips were distributed to New Yorkers.
2-New Yorkers' life expectancy increased from 78 years in 2020 to 81.5 years in 2022 (above the national life expectancy of 77.5 years). This follows a decrease caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The HealthyNYC program, a campaign to raise New York City life expectancy to 83 years by 2030, is celebrating its one-year anniversary, which sets priorities for reducing the primary causes of death in New York City and tracks our progress.
3-COVID-19 deaths are way down, thanks to increasing immunity. More than 15.7 million residents of the Empire State have been vaccinated against Covid-19.
4-Deaths from screenable cancers are declining in New York City, including breast, cervix, prostate, lung/bronchus/trachea, and colon/rectum/anus.
Maternal and child health support
5-New Yorkers now have the right to paid prenatal leave, with an additional 20 hours of paid leave for prenatal care, on top of existing leave like from employer leave policies or sick leave. More information on the program is available here.
6-All pregnant New Yorkers on Medicaid can now access doula (birthing coach) services at no cost, including support up to 12 months postpartum, regardless of pregnancy outcome. The provider’s recommendation requirement to get Medicaid coverage for doula services is met by the Commissioner of Health’s standing order, which universally recommends doula services for all pregnant, birthing, or postpartum New Yorkers.
7-Childhood vaccination rates remained the third-highest in the country, with 97.7% of kindergartners receiving the MMR vaccine during the 2023-24 school year.
Investing in health infrastructure
8-Greater access to public restrooms in New York City through the “Ur In Luck” (🚽😅) initiative, which will add 46 new public restrooms and renovate 36 across all five boroughs in New York City, with restroom locations mapped in Google Maps. (Here’s a video showing how to access it on phone map layers.)
9-Improved air quality in schools with $5 million in funding to provide education and technical assistance to implement improvements.
Advances in health care access and equity
10-Medicaid was expanded to cover undocumented immigrants 65 and older who meet income and other eligibility requirements. Additionally, a new law will ensure that kids on Medicaid under age 6 don’t have breaks in their health care coverage when their family circumstances change.
11-Health insurers are now required to cover EpiPens, and patient out-of-pocket costs are capped at $100. This makes the life-saving treatment for severe allergic reactions more affordable for New Yorkers who need it.
Cutting-edge innovation
12-New York’s first cell and gene therapy hub was opened at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo.
13-Wastewater surveillance was expanded to track additional diseases (including influenza, RSV, hepatitis A, and norovirus) when the New York State Wastewater Surveillance Network was named a CDC Center of Excellence.
14-Biomonitoring efforts will increase to identify harmful chemicals (like PFAS, lead, and mercury) in New Yorkers through $2.5 million in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding. One goal for this funding is to improve participation among minority and low-income New Yorkers who are more likely to be exposed to harmful contaminants.
YLE New York successes
- Launched YLE New York. Cheers to our first couple of months!
- Published 14 newsletters sent to thousands of readers across New York.
- Co-hosted a community listening session to understand community health information needs better.
- Represented the New York YLE community at the White House to discuss how to continue building trust and support public health communication.
Bottom line
We continue to make life healthier for millions of New Yorkers through teamwork, partnership, investment, and advocacy. I can’t believe how much this New York YLE community has grown in just a few months! The comments and questions I receive from you give me so much energy and inspiration to keep sharing trustworthy and unbiased public health information.
Here’s to 2025!
Love,
Your Local Epidemiologist
Dr. Marisa Donnelly, a senior epidemiologist with wastewater monitoring company Biobot Analytics, has worked in applied public health for over a decade, specializing in infectious diseases and emerging public health threats. She holds a PhD in epidemiology and has led multiple outbreak investigations, including at the California Department of Public Health and as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Marisa has conducted research in Peru, focusing on dengue and Zika viruses and the mosquitoes that spread them. She is Healthbeat’s contributing epidemiologist for New York in partnership with Your Local Epidemiologist, a Healthbeat supporter. She lives in New York City. Marisa can be reached at mdonnelly@healthbeat.org.
