Jan 18 Watch 8:53 The invisible catastrophe sickening families in California By PBS News Hour Porter Ranch seems like a picturesque Southern California town, but an environmental disaster has been unfolding there for several months. Natural gas has been spewing from an underground storage facility, causing health issues for residents and forcing temporary relocations for… Continue watching
Jan 18 What is the Zika virus and how does it spread? By Larisa Epatko The Zika virus is a mosquito-borne illness predominately in Central and South America, but outbreaks have occurred in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands and the Americas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Continue reading
Jan 15 Uninsured rate of Hispanic children hits record low, study finds By Lisa Gillespie, Kaiser Health News The rate of Hispanic children without health insurance fell to a historic low in 2014, the first year that key parts of Obamacare took effect, but they still represent a disproportionate share of the nation’s uninsured youth, according to a… Continue reading
Jan 15 Biden sees politics of cancer as an obstacle to curing it By Josh Lederman, Associated Press WASHINGTON — Four weeks after announcing he wouldn't run for president, Joe Biden returned to the world-renowned cancer center in Texas where doctors had tried to save his son's life. Continue reading
Jan 15 Heroin addiction is rare among painkiller abusers, study says By Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News A new review article published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine provides insights for policymakers on how to curb this deadly trend of prescription painkiller abuse… Continue reading
Jan 14 Watch 10:06 Can America come together to cure cancer? By PBS News Hour In his last State of the Union address, President Obama tapped Vice President Joe Biden to lead an effort to boost and streamline national cancer research. What would such an initiative look like? Judy Woodruff gets insight from Dr. Francis… Continue watching
Jan 14 Dr. Albert Schweitzer, a renowned medical missionary with a complicated history By Dr. Howard Markel In 2016, Albert Schweitzer may be a somewhat forgotten, or even a controversial, figure but a half a century or more ago, the mere mention of the name Schweitzer instantly conjured up images of selflessness, heroism and the very model… Continue reading
Jan 14 Ebola epidemic is over in West Africa, WHO says By Joshua Barajas The last patient tested negative for the Ebola virus in Liberia, making all three West African countries hardest hit by the outbreak to be free of the disease, the World Health Organization announced Thursday. Though the agency warned that more… Continue reading
Jan 12 Watch 2:48 Aid convoy brings temporary relief to besieged Madaya By PBS News Hour For the citizens of Madaya in Syria, long besieged by war, it's been months since they ate properly. After lengthy negotiations by the UN and international aid groups to deliver food and medicine, relief has finally arrived, but the problems… Continue watching
Jan 12 Telenovelas work to educate Hispanics about kidney donations By Fran Kritz, Kaiser Health News The marketing strategy is intended to address a growing need among Latinos for kidney transplants. Continue reading