Newsletter Articles

The Early Childhood Action Plan for North Carolina launched in February with a vision to support the state’s young children so they grow up healthy in safe and nurturing families, schools and communities. 

A renowned researcher on early childhood encouraged North Carolina advocates to go beyond traditional thinking to improve the health, safety and well-being of the state's children.

Governor Roy Cooper, former Governor Jim Hunt, NCDHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen, and other top leaders in early childhood came together to launch a detailed framework to galvanize coordinated, statewide public and private action to improve health, safety, family resilience and early learning outcomes for young children. 

More than 1,500 people from across the state have provided feedback on the North Carolina Early Childhood Action Plan, providing valuable input as the plan was drafted. The plan will be finalized and is expected to be shared with the public at the end of February.

Governor Roy Cooper’s 2nd annual School Supply Drive wrapped up last month, with over 3,000 boxes of supplies collected for schools across the state by DHHS and state employees as well as residents.

The two-day Opioid Misuse & Overdose Prevention Summit held last week served as an opportunity to reflect on progress made in North Carolina’s fight against the opioid epidemic and as a rallying cry to continue to invest in supporting communities through prevention and treatment of opioid misuse and overdose.

NCDHHS recognizes employees and partners doing positive work in their communities.

North Carolina Medicaid, which ensures that nearly 2 million children, seniors and people with disabilities receive health care, finished the 2017 state fiscal year with more than $86 million in cash-on-hand. In addition to key improvements to the Medicaid program to combat the opioid crisis and improve overall accountability, it was the fourth straight year for Medicaid to close with savings.

N.C. Public Health Division Director Danny Staley laid out a roadmap to a new strategic service model for public health, known as Public Health 3.0, at this year's North Carolina Health Leaders' Conference in Raleigh.

The state's pre-kindergarten program, which is administered by DHHS, will expand by 1,800 additional 4-year-olds this year, bringing the total number of children enrolled in NC Pre-K to more than 28,000.

Donation bins are available in all state government buildings in Raleigh, businesses that partner with the N.C. Business Committee on Education, and all State Employee Credit Union branch buildings.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) recently announced strengthened contracts with Local Management Care Entities/Managed Care Organizations (LME/MCOs) seeking improved outcomes for mental health, developmental disabilities and substance use disorder services.

Nearly 7,000 drug overdoses have been reversed in North Carolina since August 2013, thanks to an antidote for opioid overdoses called naloxone.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services celebrated Antibiotic Awareness Week by announcing the winners of the “Be Antibiotics Aware: Smart Use, Best Care Campaign' poster contest.

North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen, MD, is the keynote speaker next week at the National Academy of Medicine’s (NAM) health care symposium Nov. 21–22, 2019 at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in Durham.