The number of 18-to-24-year-olds in California who reported having thought about committing suicide at some point in their lives increased to 30.5% in 2021 from 23.9% in 2020 — the year COVID-19 emerged in the U.S. — according to new data published by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

Those figures represent a dramatic increase from just five years ago. The research center’s 2016 survey found that 14.1% of California’s young adults said they had experienced thoughts of suicide at some point in their lives.

Findings from a new UCLA report reveal that immigrants living in California are much less likely than others to have a gun in their home — just 7.7% of immigrants had a firearm in 2021 versus 22.3% of all California adults. But 24.0% of immigrants report being “very worried” about being a victim of gun violence, while 12.9% of the adult population overall said they were very worried.

Health equity has become a priority across various organizations, especially during the past 2 1/2 years. As the COVID-19 pandemic intensified disparities, a spotlight was placed on inequities that have long existed across multiple social policy domains in California and across the nation.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the nation, only 30% of California adults said in July that they “always” wore a mask when they left their homes, according to a new UCLA survey. This is a significant decrease from the 54% who “always” wore a face covering in February and March.
 
And now most California adults (51%) said they “sometimes” or “never” use a mask, compared to 48% who said they “always” or “usually” do.
 

The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health has received nearly $1.5 million in federal funding designed to support the school’s graduate students, in large part to reinforce the importance of the United States’ public health workforce.

Roshan Kalghatgi was shocked when his 73-year-old mother tested positive for the coronavirus in July, nearly 2½ years into the pandemic.

“I thought it was a fluke,” the Redwood City resident said. “I made them do it again.”

You might say that Kristen Choi (M.S. ’18) backed into nursing. “I sort of chose it last-minute during my last year of high school,” she admits, “because I wanted a job that would combine math and science with meaningful human relationships.”

On September 17 at UCLA’s Dickson Court, the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health hosted a Graduation Celebration to honor the school’s Classes of 2020 and 2021. The ceremony featured more than 60 UCLA Fielding graduates who earned Master of Public Health, Master of Science, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in 2020 and 2021. The status of COVID-19 at the time did not allow for traditional graduation ceremonies to be held.

Tears are streaming down Nakeya Bell’s face as she listens to students in her IQ Squad program, Amari Haysbert and Jenalyn Phanh, open up about their trauma.

At just 18 years old, Haysbert and Phanh are both young women of color who say their lives were upended by unstable familial structures, housing insecurity and COVID-19 while attending high school.

In 1998, Noe Ramirez crossed into the United States from Mexico, hoping to earn enough to buy a new taxi to replace the sputtering cab he drove in Mexico City. The part-time musician found construction work in Houston, playing guitar on the weekends.

One morning as he rode his bike to work, he was hit by a drunk driver. The driver fled, leaving him bleeding on the street, his spinal cord crushed. After being hospitalized, he was taken in by a local shelter for undocumented migrants, receiving medical care through a county program for low-income residents.