NASHVILLE – Everyone deserves a healthy relationship founded on trust, honesty, respect, equality, and compromise. Youth and young adults must be guided and taught to build healthy relationships and identify unhealthy ones. This February, the Tennessee Department of Health is taking part in Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month to help prevent and bring awareness to dating violence among Tennessee teens.

NASHVILLE – Stephen Espy has been named director of the Office of Informatics and Analytics (OIA) and chief data officer (CDO) for the Tennessee Department of Health. In this position, Espy will provide oversight of the management and governance of the public health data for the state.

NASHVILLE - Human trafficking continues to be a public health concern in Tennessee. Through mid-December 2021, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Human Trafficking Hotline had received 1,185 tips or leads related to human trafficking concerns. This January, which is recognized as National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, the Tennessee Department of Health encourages Tennesseans to learn risk factors, red flags, and resources for human trafficking that could help save a life.

NASHVILLE – Throughout November, the Tennessee Department of Health is recognizing National Diabetes Awareness Month. This year the campaign looks to educate individuals on ways to reverse pre-diabetes and prevent or delay the onset of diabetes through healthy lifestyle changes.

NASHVILLE – Today, the Tennessee Department of Health shared that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11 years. While young children often have milder illness than adults, outbreaks in this age group are common, can disrupt home and family life, and can lead to spread in the general community, including those at high risk of severe disease.

NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Department of Health is urging all Tennesseans who have not yet received a flu vaccine this flu season to get one as soon as possible. For the fourth consecutive year, Tennessee county health departments hold special “Fight Flu TN” flu vaccine events in every county on November 9 to increase the number of people vaccinated against influenza across Tennessee.

NASHVILLE - The Tennessee Department of Health will begin offering booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines to certain populations, beginning Monday, October 25.

NASHVILLE - During October, the Tennessee Department of Health recognizes both Breast Cancer and Domestic Violence Awareness with the Wear a Little Purple with Your Pink Campaign. This campaign takes the easily recognized pink ribbon for breast cancer and combines it with the purple ribbon for domestic violence. While nearly one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, one in four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.

Tennessee state leaders are encouraging Tennesseans to participate in the next National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, Saturday, October 23 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Take Back Day provides an opportunity for people to account for the prescription medications in their homes and safely and securely dispose of the medications they no longer need.

NASHVILLE - The Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) is recognizing Child Health Month (CHM) throughout the month of October. This annual recognition is a time to celebrate and raise awareness around what Tennessee is doing to promote the health of our most important resource: Tennessee’s children.

NASHVILLE - While most recognize the color pink in October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, this October and November marks the second annual Tennessee Pink and Pearl Campaign promoting both breast and lung cancer awareness. The addition of the pearl color represents the ribbon for lung cancer awareness, which is observed in November. While breast cancer is the most common cancer in female Tennesseans, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among both men and women.

NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Department of Health is working with the United States Department of Agriculture to help prevent rabies by distributing oral rabies vaccine for wild raccoons along Tennessee’s borders with Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. The annual baiting program administered by USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, will begin in Tennessee on October 1, 2021.

The Tennessee Department of Health will begin offering booster doses of COVID vaccine to certain populations, beginning Friday, September 24.

Tennesseans are pausing to remember International Overdose Awareness Day (August 31) after a year when sadly more people than ever died from a drug overdose. The Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Department of Health, and community groups across the state are holding memorials, trainings, and awareness events to remember the lives lost, celebrate the survivors of overdose, and empower Tennesseans to prevent deadly overdoses in their communities.

The Tennessee Department of Health is acting upon recent guidance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding an additional dose of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine for moderately and severely immunocompromised individuals.