In The News

“Telemedicine” Links Africans to Indian Expertise

Barry Malone April 16, 2008
Using its information-technology expertise, India has launched a telemedicine project that allows doctors in Ethiopia to consult on images or lab results online with physicians, based in India, 2000 miles away. “Ethiopia's health problems are mirrored across Africa where doctors and nurses are often overworked and underpaid, villagers have to walk miles to the nearest clinic and drugs and...

The Health Insurance Mafia

Jonathan Kellerman April 14, 2008
Advocates of health-care reform in the US look to universal insurance coverage as means to improve the health care system. However, Jonathan Keller, professor of pediatrics and psychology at University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine argues that the real problem is the nature of the insurance industry’s business model. Insurers bet against the ill health of their consumers,...

Food Prices Stir Poverty Concern

April 11, 2008
Development and trade have lifted many from poverty, but have also widened inequality around the globe. Diverting grain crops from food products to biofuels depleted global food stocks causing spikes in prices. Climate change and a declining dollar also add to prices. Reports of food riots and families stretching meals by adding dirt as an ingredient reveal growing desperation in the world’s...

Why Africa Must Make Health Spending a Priority

Helen Nyambura-Mwaura April 4, 2008
Health analysts agree that hiring of African nurses and doctors by hospitals in developing nations is a problem that invites the risk of new diseases emerging and spreading quickly around the globe. The 10 countries with the highest tuberculosis and HIV rates are in Africa. Health care workers are in short supply around the globe, but shortages are particularly acute in the poorest countries....

Let’s Try a Dose. We’re Bound to Feel Better

Jacob S. Hacker March 23, 2008
Republicans have criticized Democratic health-care reform plans that rely on greater government involvement, arguing government will only increase costs and diminish the quality of care. Yet, Yale political science Professor Jacob Hacker suggests that the US government has a role in health care – ensuring care for the elderly. He cites how Medicare’s increases in expenditure rates compare...

The World's Rubbish Dump: A Garbage Tip That Stretches From Hawaii to Japan

Kathy Marks March 18, 2008
Humans discard massive quantities of plastic each day, and much ends up in the oceans. The non-biodegradable plastics remain intact, even after 50 years, and contribute to the ”Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” hundreds of miles of plastic floating in the Pacific. The fouled water, containing 100 million tons of debris, kills wildlife that ingests the plastic and destroys once-pristine beaches. The...

Dutch Incident Underscores Holes in EU Organics Legislation

Nils Klawitter March 17, 2008
Growing organic food is a booming industry in wealthy nations that care about every aspect of health. Pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals have been linked to health problems, but also give produce a more aesthetic appearance and longer shelf life. So some companies find it easy to slap an organic label on any produce – grown with pesticide or not. Growing organic crops requires tolerance...