In The News

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...

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....

Hungary Toxic Sludge Spill an “Ecological Catastrophe” Says Government

Mark Tran October 7, 2010
An industrial dam broke loose, releasing a torrent of toxic red sludge, left over from an aluminum manufacturing plant, over the Hungarian countryside. In minutes, the sludge transformed picturesque communities into scenes from a horror movie, with deaths, injuries, mass evacuations and threats to the Danube and Raba rivers, already heavily polluted in that nation. “Local environmentalists said...

The Food Crisis

Martin Walker September 10, 2010
The world’s food supply is based on limited natural resources. Any disruptions in water supplies or weather patterns – exacerbated by growing populations and increased development of land – can quickly lead to food shortages, high prices and unrest. Martin Walker, writing for UPI.com, predicts “pressure on food supplies for decades to come.” Climate change and a fast-mutating fungus Ug99 that...

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...

India Tries Using Cash Bonuses to Slow Birthrates

Jim Yardley August 23, 2010
India is the second most populous nation in the world, expected to overtake China in the next decade. Analysts study the two neighbor nations for how political systems and population policies contribute to growth or economic wealth: Nations with low fertility rates are generally wealthier, while younger populations are described as more productive. Fertility rates, varying throughout India, are...

What Big Eyes You Have, Dear, But Are Those Contacts Risky?

Catherine Saint Louis July 7, 2010
With the help of popular comics in Japan and a global star like Lady Gaga, a fashion for giant eyes has sped around the globe – catching some eye doctors and health regulators off guard. In the US, teens forgo prescriptions and go online to purchase contact lenses, imported from Asia, that extend beyond the human iris. The lenses have become standard for Japanese, Korean and Singapore women who...