Apr 12 Seasonal Rains Bring Rise in Cholera Cases in Haiti By Talea Miller Cholera patients in Port-au-Prince. Photo by Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images. The months-long rainy season is just beginning in Haiti, boosting the number of cases of cholera just as critical sanitation services are in limbo. Cholera is waterborne and often spreads… Continue reading
Apr 12 Report: Medicare Patients Spend Less Time in Hospital for End-of-Life Care, but Treatment Is Expensive A new report released Tuesday by the Dartmouth Atlas Project shows that elderly Medicare patients are spending fewer days in the hospital at the end of life, but the care they received is more aggressive and expensive. The… Continue reading
Apr 08 Health Care Issues Key in Budget Battle The news this week in Washington is all budget, all the time: Will Congress work out a budget deal before Friday's midnight deadline, or will the federal government close until a compromise can be found? The Obama administration… Continue reading
Apr 07 New Study Finds Medical Error Rates are Underreported When someone goes into the hospital for treatment for one condition, but acquires another one they didn't bargain for -- such as a bloodstream infection or a complication from the wrong medication -- it's called an "adverse event."… Continue reading
Apr 07 Top 5 Global Health Headlines: Superbug in India, Refugees Flee Ivory Coast Violence By Talea Miller Family washing vegetable in Delhi. Photo by Flickr user Michael Foley. Superbug Found in New Delhi Water A drug-resistant superbug was found in about a quarter of samples taken from tap water and puddles in New Delhi,… Continue reading
Apr 06 Watch Estrogen Study Lead Researcher on Risks, Benefits of Hormone-Replacement Therapy Once a popular treatment for menopause symptoms, hormone-replacement therapy had come under scrutiny for raising the risk of certain diseases, but a new study found a reduced risk of breast cancer and other benefits for some women. Jeffrey Brown discusses… Continue watching
Apr 06 Q&A: IFRC on Evacuee Conditions, Nuclear Crisis Concerns By Betty Ann Bowser Tsunami survivors at an evacuation centre in Yamada, Iwate prefecture. Photo by Owaki Mutsuhiko / Japanese Red Cross Society The situation in Japan's evacuation centers is "dire" for the more than 170,000 people still displaced from their homes by the… Continue reading
Apr 05 A Young Vet and His Dog Returning from tours in Iraq or Afghanistan (and sometimes both), American veterans struggle to adjust to civilian life: many are still grappling with what they experienced in combat and, as we recently reported, 11 percent were unemployed in March. Continue reading
Apr 05 Latino Weight Boom on the Horizon Obesity rates are rising in several countries. Flickr photo/Keith McDuffee. If we consulted the health statistics kept by the rich countries club, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, the OECD, we might not be too surprised to find… Continue reading
Apr 05 Rep. Ryan Risks Political Backlash With GOP Budget Rollout Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairs the House Budget Committee. Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr. As Congress wrangles over relatively minuscule reductions in non-defense discretionary spending for the remainder of the fiscal year (more on that below),… Continue reading