In The News

The Redistribution of Hope

December 24, 2010
The ability to compare and engage in long-term planning can inspire hope or fear. For the past four centuries, optimism gave Western nations advantages, as citizens embraced technology, progress and global connections. “Now hope is on the move,” suggests the Economist, as the can-do spirit emerges in China and Brazil. The US and UK are moody, hampered by polarized electorates that squabble over...

Cigarette Giants in Global Fight on Tighter Rules

Duff Wilson December 1, 2010
Around the world, giant tobacco companies are increasing spending on advertising and fighting public-health initiatives to regulate the production and sale of cigarettes. As cigarette consumption falls in the West, the multinationals challenge ad limits, health warnings, cigarette taxes and prohibitions on displays throughout the developed world and invest millions into advertising in Asia and...

Cholera, Fear Spread Beyond the Border

Fred Tasker, Frances Robles November 19, 2010
Soon after the earthquake hit Haiti in January 2010, world public health officials predicted that poor sanitation and disrupted services could lead to an outbreak of disease. Cholera now spread rapidly throughout the country, killing more than 1000 Haitians and crossing borders into the Dominican Republic and the United States. Thousands more are sickened and violent riots have broken out in...

Qualms Arise Over Outsourcing Of Electronic Medical Records

Amol Sharma, Ben Worthen November 8, 2010
Digitizing health records improves care, reduces errors and saves money in redundant testing or treatment. In an effort to reduce costs, the US health care reform law includes incentives, with billions in government funding, for providers and hospitals to rely on electronic medical records. Only 20 percent of US hospitals now rely on electronic records. Analysts anticipate that hospitals will not...

UN Report Warns of Threat to Human Progress From Climate Change

Larry Elliott, Mark Tran November 5, 2010
The United Nations' annual human development report mixes good news with bad. Despite global financial crisis, the vast majority of nations have made progress in poverty elimination, jobs, education continues, and only three – the Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe – show declines in human development since 1990. Fast-growing emerging economies in Asia demonstrated the most progress. However, a...

Taiwan's Medical Tourism Boom

Jens Kastner October 20, 2010
China does not provide socialized public health care for its 1.3 billion citizens, with health insurance covering about 40 percent of the population. The World Health Organization reports problems abound with China’s health system: Less than 15 percent of the nation’s medical professionals have a bachelor’s degree or higher; doctors outnumber nurses; and profit-taking leads to over-prescribing....

Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Moving From South Asia to US

Donald G. McNeil Jr. August 26, 2010
People travel around the world with unprecedented speed and frequency, carrying germs as they go. Recently, H1N1 – otherwise known as swine flu – swept through many countries, devastating a normally healthy group: 18-40 year olds. Now, a new mutation in some bacteria, a gene labeled by scientists as NDM-1, is resistant to almost all antibiotics. First detected in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh...