May 18, 2008
Can the world settle on a medical research and development (R&D) system that develops medicines and other products to meet priority health needs and makes those products available on an affordable basis?
Developing a strategy to meet these twin goals is the task of World Health Organization (WHO) negotiations...
Harold Pollack | Posted April 25, 2008 | Living
One of the few brights spots these days is that millions of Americans finally realize the importance of global health. Today is world Malaria Day. If you're reading this, you probably already know that this is a huge killer, particularly of kids in sub-Saharan Africa. I was hoping to party...
Robert Weissman | Posted April 14, 2008 | Business
Have things changed at the International Monetary Fund? Or is the world just witnessing yet another in a long series of global economic double standards?
IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn says that the "need for public intervention" to address the global financial crisis "is becoming more evident." Strauss-Kahn...
Susan Blumenthal, M.D. | Posted April 6, 2008 | Living
By Susan Blumenthal, M.D., Yi-An Ko, Stephanie Safdi, Beth Hoffman and Julie Chen*
As thousands of people pour into emergency rooms and millions line up to be vaccinated, Brazil's public health officials and recently even its military are fighting to control vector-borne diseases. Mosquitoes are carrying illnesses like dengue and...
Deirdre Imus | Posted April 2, 2008 | Living
When American scholar Warren Bennis said, "Bureaucracies are beautiful mechanisms for the evasion of responsibilities and guilt," he might well have been speaking of the current state of affairs inside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Once revered around the world, hardly a month passes without another...
Susan Blumenthal, M.D. | Posted April 1, 2008 | Living
By Susan J. Blumenthal, M.D., Elisha Dunn-Georgiou, and Melissa Shive*
Despite 25 years of progress in diagnosing and treating HIV/AIDS in the United States, at least one major impact of the illness has not changed -- the stigma surrounding the disease. Motivated by the changing face...
Three days ago, I posted a letter signed by many health and social policy experts concerning individual mandates. I happily signed because the mandate issue has been accorded such undue centrality to the health reform debate. Both the Obama and Clinton plans will leave some number of Americans without coverage....
I and more than 80 other physicians, public health and medical practitioners, and social policy experts have signed the below letter. It notes the importance of health reform, and it notes why the issue of "individual mandates" has taken on undue importance in the health policy and presidential debate.
I...
Deirdre Imus | Posted December 10, 2007 | Living
If academic grades could gauge how well a country values and protects its children, the United States would not only receive an "F", it would be one of the lowest grades in the class. America may be a superpower, but when it comes to protecting our children's health we certainly...
Gregg Easterbrook | Posted September 7, 2007 | Living
Antidepressant use is declining and youth suicide is rising -- should the linkage between these events be viewed as some huge surprise, as the media now imply in the wake of yesterday's Centers for Disease Control report?
Three years ago I wrote an article for New Republic (it's here,...
From the AP: Democrat John Edwards endorsed former rival Barack Obama on Wednesday, a...
*** UPDATED BELOW *** President Bush has said repeatedly that he would not insert himself into the...
Utterly insane goings-on tonight on...
It's a pretty well known fact that most women - attractive women -...
Just off the House floor today, the Crypt overheard House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers tell two...
Tonight, Keith Olbermann unleashed what may well have been his...
The AP reports on Obama's swift and forceful response to Bush and McCain's criticism of...
The Tennessee GOP hasn't yet had their fill of Obama dirty tricks. A few months ago,...
***UPDATE*** Roughly five hours after making comments about...
The Democratic Party has finally decided who's going to break it to Hillary that it's time...
Sixteen tips for getting good sleep. There's a lot of advice out there about getting good...
Robert Weissman | Posted April 30, 2008 | Business