The NYTimes published an editorial yesterday which debated the practice of allowing unsupervised, yet highly trained nurses to provide anesthesia care. California recently joined 14 other states in allowing the practice; Colorado is set to approve it as well. The cost savings are clear: In the long run, there also could be savings to the health care […]
Few think of hospitals as hotbeds for innovation. However, two recent postings from Harvard Business Review (‘Why Innovation Thrives at the Mayo Clinic” and “Oslo Innovation Clinic Offers Treatment for Ideas“) indicate otherwise.
ProPublica reported last week that BP has committed funding of $52 million to treating mental health victims affected by the Gulf oil spill. This has come after the publication of the Mailman School’s release of a study (“Impact on Children and Families of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill“) which interviewed over 1200 residents of Louisiana and […]
Information about the Obama administration’s Global Health Initiative has been notoriously slow for those of us trying to deliver services and prepare for funding shifts. Secretary Clinton’s recent speech at Johns Hopkins’ SAIS sheds some light on the initiative; Nandini Ooman’s excellent analysis is here.
I’m loving this infographic from GOOD, which juxtaposes life expectancy against cost per capita. Check out the zoomable version.
In Hubert Humphrey’s final speech, he said “…the moral test of government is how the government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twighlight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.” Recent articles in […]
I’ve been spending some time reading the pledges rolling in for Gates’ and Buffet’s Giving Pledge – the movement to inspire global billionaires to give away 50% or more of their wealth. I’m curious to know what impact this pledge could have on health research and treatment. Here are some excerpts from pledges that give […]
The June issue of Wired Magazine profiles Google founder Sergey Brin’s quest to change health research, and his own future at the same time. At 36 years old, Brin has discovered that he possesses the indicator gene that has a higher risk of Parkinson’s. So, instead of waiting on the sidelines while traditional research may or may not […]
I had an offhand conversation with a friend the other day about the cost and quality of US healthcare relative to the rest of the world. I then came across this “infographic” republished in Fast Company earlier this year, and originally by National Geographic. The visual is startling: upward sloping lines indicate value for $$ […]
The recent “victory” of GSK’s Avandia raises questions about protocols in clinical trials. Curious about a trial participant’s perspective? Ana Cantu at the American-Statesman recalls her own participation in a drug trial 5 years ago.
How is health measured? A consistent measure used by global health practitioners is the DALY, or Disability Adjusted Life Year, which compares one disease with another and uses this comparative measure to quantify the overall disease burden. Karen Grepin recently posted about a collaboration between the WHO, Harvard University, among others, to update and revise the […]
Click on the map to view the interactive version. Photo Credit: IRIN/Plus News
Researchers at the University of California, Davis have discovered that breast milk sugars promote the growth of a subspecies of bacteria important to protecting a baby’s intenstinal lining. The NYTimes reports: Dr. German sees milk as “an astonishing product of evolution,” one which has been vigorously shaped by natural selection because it is so critical […]
In case you missed it, June 20th marked an historic day in the search for an effective method of HIV prevention. The Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) announced its results from a groundbreaking study that affirmed the effectiveness of a microbicide The nearly 3-year study showed a 39% reduction in HIV infection rates amongst participants […]
Commentary about President Obama’s Global Health Initiative has been coming fast and furiously this month, not least from the White House. The initiative is caught between a rock and a hard place, with the steady goodwill of AIDS-affected country built up over the last decade and a Congress which is hard-pressed to increase development aid in […]