Loneliness is as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and more people than ever are suffering, says Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.

In a new report, Murthy calls on Americans to strengthen their personal relationships.

“It will take all of us,” he writes. “It will require reimagining the structures, policies, and programs that shape a community to best support the development of healthy relationships.”

What’s happening? Americans are reporting unprecedented levels of isolation.

Nearly half have few close friends, and 70 percent feel distrustful of others, according to the report.

A lack of social connection is linked to increased rates of high blood pressure, diabetes, infectious disease and dementia.

Murthy also calls out social media, noting that while it can be a source of connection, it can also cause harm by displacing in-person interactions, monopolizing attention and diminishing self-esteem.

His National Strategy to Advance Social Connection has six pillars:

1. Strengthen local community infrastructure by creating institutions that bring people together.
2. Create social support programs that promote opportunities for connection.
3. Expand public health surveillance so health care providers can better assess patient risk of social isolation.
4. Reform digital environments to better foster connection and reduce harms.
5. Increase research into social isolation to address loneliness.
6. Build a culture of kindness and respect.

The report outlines how various stakeholders — schools, health care systems, religious leaders and community-based organizations — can help achieve these goals.

State and federal legislators are already thinking through how new laws can mitigate the harms of social media.

Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Utah and Virginia have already passed measures that introduce age, parental consent and, in some cases, design requirements for social media companies.

In Congress, lawmakes have proposed bills to require the companies to allow children and parents more control over their feeds, to require that kids get parental consent before opening accounts and to make it easier to sue online platforms if users post images of child sexual abuse.

This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care.

A single dose of the HPV vaccine may prevent infection for three years, according to clinical trial research presented at the International Papillomavirus Conference in April.

Conducted in Kenya, the KEN SHE study could have major implications for low- and middle-income countries, where rates of cervical cancer, which is linked to human papillomavirus, are disproportionately high.

A one-dose option would make it cheaper and easier to protect women and girls from HPV. While results directly comparing one- and two-dose regimens won’t be available until 2025, the World Health Organization estimates that the one-dose strategy could prevent 60 million cervical cancer cases and 45 million deaths over the next 100 years.

Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Ben Leonard at [email protected], Ruth Reader at [email protected], Carmen Paun at [email protected] or Erin Schumaker at [email protected].

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Today on our Pulse Check podcast, host Megan Messerly talks with Krista Mahr about a new CDC report that finds more Black Americans died from fentanyl overdoses than from any other drug in 2021 and at far higher rates than white or Hispanic Americans. Krista explains how the pandemic, health inequities and other factors have contributed to the rise in overdose deaths in Black communities.

What could cause the next pandemic and what can be done to stop it?

Raj Panjabi, the White House senior director for global health security and biodefense, told the Milken Institute Global Conference this week that there are three main drivers for pandemic risks:

1. Pathogen spillover as deforestation increases;

2. Poor public health systems;

3. Population movement between rural and urban areas.

The first risk factor, deforestation, is where one nonprofit is trying to make a difference.

Since 2005, Portland, Ore.-based Health in Harmony has worked with indigenous people and local communities living in the rainforests of Brazil, Indonesia and Madagascar to help combat deforestation.

That reduces the risk of wild animals spreading disease to people.

Health in Harmony says it takes pride in its method of listening to the communities and investing in the solutions they recommend instead of telling them what to do.

Providing access to health care helps conservation efforts, the organization has found.

When people leave the rainforest to be closer to providers, it can lead to land clearing.

“The fact that they are there prevents the loggers and the farmers and the miners from coming in,” Sakib Burza, the organization’s senior medical and research director, told Carmen.

Health in Harmony chose to work with the three countries because they have a lot of at-risk land, Burza said. Such areas account for most of the global virus spillover danger, he added.

Promising results: A 2020 Stanford University study on Health in Harmony’s work found that deforestation in an Indonesian national park where it operates declined 70 percent in the decade after an affordable health clinic opened in the area.

Clinical trials must recruit more diverse participants to improve the accuracy of their findings, scientists believe.

On Tuesday, the FDA rolled out draft recommendations to decentralize trials with accessibility in mind.

The goal is to allow patients to participate without having to trek to trial sites by using telemedicine and remote health monitoring.

The draft guidance says trials should:

— Have a physical location where participants’ records are accessible.

— Specify when telehealth visits are proper vs. when participants should be in person, and have protocols for monitoring adverse events remotely.

— Train participants and workers on how to use telehealth.

— Ensure that participants who don’t have the proper technology aren’t excluded from trials.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf sees far-reaching benefits from this approach.

“Decentralized clinical trials may enhance convenience for trial participants, reduce the burden on caregivers, expand access to more diverse populations, improve trial efficiencies, and facilitate research on rare diseases and diseases affecting populations with limited mobility,” he said in a statement.

Zooming out: Companies and investors are pouring cash into modernizing clinical trials.

Walgreens, Walmart and CVS are getting into the clinical trial business, leveraging their retail footprints to make trials easier for people to access.