KENYA HUNTER

Health reporter

Hunter is a public health reporter at The Associated Press.
FILE - This Nov. 11, 2013 file photo shows a bedroom built by Mike Spangler using some reclaimed materials, in Belle, W.Va. Nearly one-third of American adults don't get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Some of the major causes: Stress, anxiety and a culture that experts say is about productivity, not rest. (Craig Cunningham/Charleston Daily Mail via AP, file)
Get better sleep with these 5 tips from experts
Nearly a third of American adults don’t get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Stress and anxiety are keeping people from snoozing, as can a culture that experts say is about productivity, not rest.
 
This combination of 2023 photos shows Kate, Princess of Wales, left, and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. For some cancer patients, sharing the news can be a difficult decision. Austin initially kept his prostate cancer quiet. Kate also waited to publicly disclose her cancer. (Ian Vogler/Pool via AP, AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Some cancer patients can find it hard to tell family and friends
For some cancer patients, sharing the news can be a difficult decision. Not everyone is comfortable telling others, for cultural or privacy reasons _ or because they just don’t want to talk about it.
 
FILE - Doses of the anti-viral drug Paxlovid are displayed in New York, Aug. 1, 2022. A study by Harvard researchers released on Jan. 26, 2024, found that Paxlovid was disproportionately given to patients with lower risk of severe infection. If it had been properly utilized, the authors concluded, more than 16,000 COVID-19 deaths could have been prevented.. (AP Photo/Stephanie Nano, File)
Paxlovid can lessen the chance of a severe COVID-19 illness. Why is it underused?
Paxlovid can prevent hospitalization and death from COVID-19, but experts say it’s being underused. The pills’ high price and doctors’ hesitation to prescribe them are creating obstacles to getting the drug to everyone who would benefit.
 
FILE - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack holds up a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Electronic Benefits Transfer (SNAP EBT) card during a news conference at the White House, Wednesday, May 5, 2021, in Washington. Nearly 21 million children in the U.S. and its territories are expected to receive food benefits this summer through a newly permanent federal program, the United States Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. “No child in this country should go hungry,” Vilsack said in an interview on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
USDA estimates 21 million kids will get summer food benefits through new program in 2024
About 21 million children are likely to receive food benefits this summer through a newly permanent federal program.
 
Ashley Yancey feeds her 11 month-old daughter Olivia as two-year old Oliver Tolvert looks on at right Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, in Douglasville, Ga. Yancey, who doesn't own a car, recently tried to find formula for her daughter at a Target about 30 miles from her home in and was stunned the location didn’t accept WIC. Often, her nearest WIC vendor is out of the product. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
WIC helps moms and kids eat. But finding what you need isn’t always easy
More than 6 million people receive benefits through the nation’s food assistance program for women, infants and children, which is known as WIC.
 
FILE - This electron microscope image provided by the National Institutes of Health shows human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) virions, colorized blue, and anti-RSV F protein/gold antibodies, colorized yellow, shedding from the surface of human lung cells. RSV infections are rising sharply in some parts of the country, nearly filling hospital emergency departments in Georgia, Texas and some other states. To help counter the surge, federal officials on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, announced they were releasing 77,000 doses of a new RSV shot for newborns that have been in short supply. (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH via AP, File)
RSV is straining some hospitals, and US officials are releasing more shots for newborns
RSV infections are rising sharply in some parts of the country, nearly filling hospital emergency departments in Georgia, Texas and some other states.
 
Children's Defense Fund program director Graciela Camarena poses for a photo in Pharr, Texas, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. Graciela assists community members with filling out SNAP and Medicaid forms for their families as the state reviews Texans' eligibility. Some 1 million people have already lost Medicaid coverage. (AP Photo/Michael Gonzalez)
The Biden administration is slow to act as millions are booted off Medicaid, advocates say
Error-ridden state reviews have purged millions of the poorest Americans from the Medicaid program in recent months.
 
This image provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, shows counties, shaded in teal, where federal officials suggest offering syphilis testing to all sexually active people between the ages of 15 and 44. The Associated Press estimated the suggestion could affect tens of millions of people, based on federal data. (CDC via AP)
Syphilis cases in US newborns skyrocketed in 2022. Health officials suggest more testing
Syphilis cases in U.S. newborns again are on the rise. It has health officials calling for new measures to stop the increase, including encouraging millions of sexually active women of childbearing age and their partners to get tested.
 
Deneshun Graves, a disease intervention specialist with the Houston Health Department, fills out paperwork as she walks back to her pickup truck after trying to contact a client, who wasn't home in Houston on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023. Disease intervention specialists often link infected mothers and their partners with care for syphilis to help prevent congenital syphilis in the baby. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
Syphilis and other STDs are on the rise. States lost millions of dollars to fight and treat them
State and local health departments across the U.S. recently lost the final two years of a $1 billion federal investment to treat and prevent sexually transmitted diseases.
 
Kayleigh Butler, a hair stylist, stands for a portrait at her studio in Atlanta on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. “Relaxers have taken an extreme decline ... as we became more knowledgeable about the effects of the relaxer on your hair and what it can do to your hair,” says Butler, who remembers getting relaxers when she was 5 years old. She added: “I think people just wanted to move away from that and live a healthier lifestyle.” (AP Photo/Kenya Hunter)
FDA is thinking about a ban on hair-straightening chemicals. Stylists say Black women have moved on
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering a ban on certain hair-straightening chemicals that have been used by Black women for years.