Boston Public Health Commission

Opioid overdose deaths among communities of color across the state rose in 2023, even as the number of deaths overall saw its biggest drop in over a decade, according to new statistics from the state Department of Public Health.

From the top floor of 1010 Massachusetts Ave., where she heads the Boston Public Health Commission, Dr. Bisola Ojikutu is a long way from the South Side of Chicago, where she grew up surrounded by a distrust of the medical system.

Leaders in health-related fields called for increased collaboration and broad structural change at the second annual Health Equity Trends Summit on June 6.

Ten community organizations in Boston’s neighborhoods that experience the greatest health disparities will receive more than $1 million in grant funding from the Boston Public Health Commission to increase health care access in the communities that need it most.

Throughout August and September, the Boston Public Health Commission is holding hearings for residents to decide how to allocate settlement money from lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors.

Public health experts, teachers and families of Boston area students are calling for increased public health measures — namely, heightened masking practices, especially in schools — as the region sees increased rates of COVID-19, influenza and other respiratory illnesses.

Since the start of school in September, members of Families for COVID Safety have been advocating for stronger safety policies in Boston Public Schools, calling for at least 10 days of masking following the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday breaks.

Coronavirus cases are rising across several Massachusetts counties, including Suffolk, according to Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data released this week.

After shuttering its doors last week for a rapidly spreading COVID outbreak, the Curley School in Jamaica Plain now faces an additional challenge as state education officials say they won’t count the school’s remote instruction toward the mandatory 180 days required under state law.

Acting Mayor Kim Janey announced a ban on tents and temporary shelters in Boston at a press conference on Tuesday, Oct. 19.

Following a state-level ban on evictions that expired in October 2020 and a federal ban that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in August, acting Mayor Kim Janey on Aug. 31 announced a municipal eviction moratorium for the city of Boston.