After the great SARS terror of 2002 which was predicted to cause more devastation than AIDS, and the bird flu panic of 2006 when we were warned that a quarter of Britons might die, we now have the great swine flu crisis of 2009. But just as SARS and bird flu failed to deliver on their predicted devastation (together, they were responsible for an estimated 1031 deaths globally), so will the great swine flu disaster also fade away into the annals of health scares that never were? Read more →

Most Americans are willing to pay higher taxes to make health care reform possible, but, like politicians, they disagree about what reforms should take place.

Should the government mandate a health care plan or should insurance carriers do a better job of providing coverage?

The Democrats, led by Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama, plan to rely on a “play or pay” system that would improve access to insurance and move the United States toward universal coverage. Read more →

War is hard. It is hard on the economies of the countries involved; it is hard on the leaders of governments; it is hard on the families of those left behind for deployment; it is especially hard on the soldiers. It is no secret that, for generations of wars and military conflicts, soldiers have experienced stress and trauma that leaves a permanent mark on their health and well-being. For some soldiers, this may be a scar, a battle wound, or the loss of a limb. But for some soldiers, the damage is less apparent, manifested in mental health disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and alcohol misuse. Read more →

Arguably, one of the greatest public health advances in the last century has been the advent of safe and effective vaccines for deadly diseases. Today, several vaccine-preventable diseases have all but disappeared from our lives, thanks to all 50 states mandating vaccination for school children and making routine vaccination a public health priority.

Children today receive dozens of doses of vaccines to prevent at least 16 illnesses throughout their infancy, childhood, and adolescence. For almost every child, these vaccines are safe and effective, leaving behind no more than a sore arm or leg for a few hours. However, the number of parents refusing vaccines for their children is rising. Read more →

If I were to rate the corruptive tactics performed by big pharmaceutical companies, the intentional corruption of implementing fabricated and unreliable results of clinical trials would be at the top of the list. Pharmaceutical companies manipulate the trials they sponsor because of their power to control others involved in the process largely absent of regulation. This is a matter of requiring authenticity and, more importantly, assuring the safety of the public health. Read more →

October 10th was World Mental Health day. This year, the focus was on the interplay between culture and mental health. Let’s see what we can learn on the topic: Read more →