Health

Tackle football remains one of the most popular sports in America, but participation in high school football in South Dakota and across the United States is falling steadily as the risk of brain injuries from the sport becomes clearer. Participation in 11-player boys football in South Dakota fell by 5.

South Dakota lags behind the rest of the nation in vaccinating children and youths against the Human Papillomavirus, the most common sexually transmitted disease in America that can cause a range of potentially fatal cancers. HPV can exist without symptoms and is a leading cause of throat cancer in men

South Dakota parents, educators and health officials are facing a four-year gap in data about risky youth behaviors related to drinking and drug use, sexual activity and eating habits. The lack of information about what young people are actually doing can impair efforts at the state and local levels to

South Dakota ranks second in the nation for the rate at which its residents die of liver diseases, and the fatality rate is rising overall with many experts now blaming poor lifestyle and eating habits in addition to heavy alcohol use as causes of the illnesses. While heavy alcohol consumption

On July 1, the use of e-cigarettes or other vaping products will become illegal in almost all South Dakota workplaces and public buildings, including bars, restaurants and casinos. After a somewhat hurried process, lawmakers in March voted to treat e-cigarettes the same as combustible tobacco products when used in public

South Dakota infants are dying in their sleep at a rate far higher than the national average and above neighboring states, but new efforts are underway to save babies from a cause of death that health experts say is mostly preventable. From 2013 to 2017, more than 70 percent of