In The News

US Health Care Reform Is Only Getting Started

Elizabeth H. Bradley, Lauren A. Taylor November 5, 2013
In Scandinavia, health care is a social good, and for the United States, it is a business. The differences on costs and outcomes are glaring. The US invests $8604 per capita on its system, compared with $5674 for Norway, $4564 for Denmark and $3870 for Sweden, according to the World Health Organization. Elizabeth H. Bradley, professor of public health at Yale University, and Lauren A. Taylor of...

NHS “Can Save £500m” on Foreign Care

Nick Triggle November 1, 2013
A survey by BritishFuture.org suggests that more than 70 percent of respondents consider the National Health Service a symbol of “what is great” about Great Britain. But health care is costly, and British officials contemplate being more proactive in recouping treatment costs from foreigners. “Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he did not want to ‘turn GPs into border guards’ and no-one would be...

Polio Outbreak in Northeast Syria Risks Spreading, WHO Says

Stephanie Nebehay October 30, 2013
The World Health Organization reports a polio outbreak among young children in northeast Syria. The disease “is endemic in just three countries – Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan – raising the possibility that foreign fighters have imported the virus into Syria, where Islamist militant groups are part of the splintered array battling Assad's forces,” reports Stephanie Nebehay for Reuters....

India Seeks to Regulate Booming “Rent-a-Womb” Industry

Nita Bhalla, Mansi Thapliyal October 2, 2013
India legalized commercial surrogacy in 2002 and is one of the few countries where women can be paid for carrying another’s child. Women’s rights groups criticize the $400 million industry for exploiting poor women and endangering their health to produce babies for rich clients, mostly from other nations: “The low-cost technology, skilled doctors, scant bureaucracy and a plentiful supply of...

With Labs Pumping Out Legal Highs, China Is New Front in Global Drug War

Charlie Campbell September 18, 2013
Factories in China are rapidly manufacturing synthetic drugs, meant to mimic the effects of illegal substances like marijuana or cocaine. The drugs, untested for health and safety, are sold around the world labeled as bath salts or plant food. New to regulators, the substances remain legal until health issues, including deaths, are reported. The US Drug Enforcement Administration describes,...

Africa and Pakistan Face Polio Outbreaks

Donald G. McNeil, Jr. September 4, 2013
New polio cases are emerging in some of the world’s most unstable places – North Waziristan, Somalia and a Kenya refugee camp. The world had about 350,000 cases in 1988 and 223 cases in 2012, a 99 percent decrease, but polio can spread quickly, especially among children under the age of five, reports the World Health Organization. Poverty and rumors add to the challenges of health care workers....

Bird Flu Strain in China “Passed Between Humans”

August 9, 2013
The viruses that cause flu can mutate quickly, and researchers have detected a probable human-to-human transmission of an emerging form of bird flu in China. “Until now there had been no evidence of anyone catching the H7N9 virus other than after direct contact with birds,” reports BBC News. “But experts stressed it does not mean the virus has developed the ability to spread easily between humans...