In The News

The H1N1 Virus: Varied Local Responses to a Global Spread

Yanzhong Huang September 1, 2009
This past spring, some of the responses to the H1N1 virus, known as the Swine Flu, were surprisingly reminiscent of the SARS epidemic from 2003. That is, some authorities imposed travel restrictions and quarantines to halt the advance of the virus. But as Director of the Center for Global Health Studies at Seton Hall University Yanzhong Huang argues, such methods are a direct contradiction of a...

Armenians Struggle for Health Care and Medicines

Monika Mkhitaryan, Onnik Krikorian August 5, 2009
Faced with unemployment and lower remittances in the current global economic slowdown, Armenians face a vicious health care cycle. Since the country’s independence in 1991, the government has created numerous healthcare programs which generally succeeded in providing for the health needs of its people. About half of the total expenditure on health is financed through the private sector, of which...

Hungry World: A Silent Crisis Calls for Urgent Action

Marshall Bouton July 7, 2009
When the leaders of the eight industrialized countries meet in Italy this week, they will need to urgently address a silent crisis of hunger. With over a billion hungry people around the globe, it is critical that the developed world takes measures to increase agricultural productivity, writes Chicago Council on Global Affairs president Marshall Bouton. Such a solution is ever more pressing given...

Overseas, Under The Knife

Arnold Milstein, Mark D. Smith, Jerome P. Kassirer June 16, 2009
Relaxing on the beach isn’t the only reason to go abroad these days. Increasingly, Americans are traveling to foreign countries for “medical tourism” – electing to receive hospital treatment in a foreign country. The majority of medical tourists seek lower-cost medical procedures due to poor or no insurance coverage in their home country. But the deep discounts on medical care in foreign...

Stopping the Death Spiral

David Dapice May 26, 2009
US healthcare costs are nearly double that of other developed nations, and are without any attendant benefits: US life expectancy is no greater. Hence, the burden to the government and corporations is clear and reform is needed, according to economist David Dapice. That this burden is growing faster than inflation makes the need for a timely solution even more pressing. As uncontroversial as this...

10 Genes, Furiously Evolving

Carl Zimmer May 11, 2009
Viruses, numbering in the hundreds of millions and likely extant for centuries, are unique because of a process by which they cause host cells to produce more viruses. But it is reassortment – a phenomenon in which two viruses infecting the same cell combine to form a new virus – that likely leads to the evolution and proliferation of viruses. As one doctor noted, “Reassortment may be the major...

Reminder From a Five-Year-Old

Anshel Pfeffer May 11, 2009
While Mexico’s swine flu patient zero has recovered fully and is back engaged in what holds many five year olds’ attention – watching television – the process of the flu itself can provide a lesson in globalization. According to the author, international air travel was as much a cause, as a potential cure by transporting doctors and medicine, for the disease. Moreover, the media attention that...