In The News

New York Times: US Opposition to Breastfeeding at World Forum

Andrew Jacobs July 8, 2018
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization recommend breastfeeding for the first six months of life “to achieve optimal growth, development, and health.” US delegates defied longstanding research on infant nutrition at the UN-affiliated World Health Assembly in an attempt to weaken a breastfeeding resolution. “American officials sought to water down the resolution by...

New Scientist: People Across World Share Cancer Data

Andy Coghlan June 29, 2018
The Universal Cancer Databank allows people with cancer to donate their medical data to a global online database with the aim of finding treatments. “Unlike previous attempts to collect and share patient data, the UCD is a 100% philanthropic, 100% anonymised, and 100% global,” the database's site explains. “Its goal is to overcome rare and difficult cancers that have proven too difficult for...

BBC: Health Impact of Separating Children from Parents

Jessica Lussenhop June 21, 2018
Doctors speak out against a Trump administration policy that separates children from parents attempting to cross the US border. The policy could cause long-term, irreversible harm unless the families are swiftly reunited. The new policy began in a chaotic way with empty big-box stores and tents used to shelter the children, including babies and toddlers, with the risk that some families may never...

New York Times: Improve a Billion Lives With Eyeglasses

Andrew Jacobs May 10, 2018
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other deadly diseases are at the forefront of global health crises. This had allowed certain widespread health issues to be overlooked. Poor vision and lack of access to eyeglasses, while not necessarily fatal, afflicts more than a billion people worldwide. Eye exams and eyeglasses can be very expensive, while the resources allotted to improving vision care in...

China Dialogue: Processed Food Is a Global Health Crisis

Judy Bankman December 12, 2017
Processed food and Western diets that are high in fats, sugars and salt are not healthy and also contribute to poor agriculture methods and climate change. Farming methods could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help stem climate change, according to an agreement made during the UN COP23 summit on climate change in Bonn. “Dietary changes are taking place at ‘unprecedented speed,’ and people in...

Slate: Hunger and Obesity Can Be Two Sides of the Same Coin

Eleanor Cummins October 4, 2017
The recent United Nations report on “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2017” explains the troubling recent increase in world hunger and obesity rates. Global hunger rates had been steadily declining for decades, but from 2015 to 2016 there was an increase of 40 million people who went hungry. Obesity has doubled since 1980. Each year, an estimated 815 million people go hungry...

The Washington Post: US Life Expectancy Varies by More Than 20 Years From County to County

Joel Achenbach May 9, 2017
Life expectancy at birth reflects the overall mortality level of a population, but the fragmented nature of US health care – with state oversight of health insurance and regulation – contributes to a 20-year gap among some counties. Life expectancy in some places like Kentucky is in decline while rising in parts of New York, California and Alaska. A report from the University of Washington’s...