Jennifer Fernandez | NC Health News

The state has extended to 2027 its pilot of Safe Babies Court, which national studies show reunifies families more often, gets children into a permanent home more quickly and more often prevents further maltreatment than traditional approaches.

“One of the things we’re going to be able to do is now get data on what exactly is happening for our most vulnerable kids in North Carolina,” NCDHHS Secretary Dev Sangvai said last week.

The goal is to use beauty spaces, which play a vital role in Black culture, to increase awareness of vaccines that reduce serious illness from flu, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus.

Charlotteans were among those who showed up at last week's rally at the state capitol. Organizers called it “a stark preview” of the potential future without affordable child care, underscoring the significant impact on North Carolina’s workforce and families.

Guilford County’s rate stood at 7.6 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2021, the most recent year for which data are available. That’s higher than the state’s rate of 6.8 deaths per 1,000 live births and the national rate of 5.4. It’s also higher than the rates in other large N.C. counties, according to Every Baby Guilford.

The $40 million paid by Juul when they settled the case will pay for e-cigarette cessation and prevention programs, data monitoring and more.

North Carolina is among about a dozen states with the smallest percentage of children ages 13-17 considered fully vaccinated against HPV, according to 2022 data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

State health officials, alarmed by the growing number of cases, have launched a social media education campaign, a new website, and are working on other ways to reverse that trend.

The state’s Child Fatality Task Force is working on the topics and programs it will push legislators to tackle this year. Two issues are familiar, even though the group saw some success with advancing them last year.

North Carolina is also pursuing waivers to protect children further by keeping them enrolled longer before eligibility reviews, reducing the times children may temporarily lose coverage.