The last week of February 2008 marked the first anniversary of the death of Deamonte Driver, the twelve-year-old-boy from Prince Georges’ County, Maryland who died from a tooth infection that spread to his brain. His death was another sorry statistic in the litany of sorry statistics about the disparities in health and access to health insurance […]

Comparing health systems, the growth of U.S. health spending, and proposals to fix Medicare physician payment topped the January-February 2008 most-read list for the Health Affairs Blog. Sign up for email or RSS feed alerts to stay on top of new postings. Additional commenting always welcome.

U.S. Worst At Beating Death From Treatable Illness
by Jane Hiebert-White
HEALTH […]

On Thursday, February 28, 2008, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) will launch a non-partisan commission to identify and recommend practical solutions that address the many non-medical influences on health and improve opportunities for more Americans to make healthier choices.

In March 2008, the Washington, D.C., City Council will decide whether to give final approval to The Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act, which would grant at least some “paid sick leave to all workers in the city,” the Washington Post recently reported. The article notes that “San Francisco is the only U.S. city with […]

Recent days have brought a flurry of coverage of community-based MRSA outbreaks. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus has been a problem of long standing in the hospital setting. However, recent outbreaks in schools, and the lack of a clear explanation from officialdom for the up-tick, have clearly given new legs to what health care and public health […]

In the latest edition of Health Affairs and at the journal’s recent Washington briefing, “caring for the vulnerable” was the major agenda. It was a bittersweet occasion. Health Affairs deserves much credit for challenging us on how well we care for the vulnerable.
However. “Caring for the vulnerable” is an important mission, like the heroic efforts […]

A new report, released August 29 by Florida Health Care Association (FHCA) and funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation, offers ten recommendations for improving how frail and elderly people are cared for during major disasters, such as hurricanes, so as to prevent needless deaths. LuMarie Polivka-West, in an introductory letter to the report–Caring for Vulnerable Elders […]

On the second anniversary of the disastrous Hurricane Katrina, it is fitting to look at issues of risk and preparedness. Today, Health Affairs Blog is hosting the blog carnival “Cavalcade Of Risk” which was started by Hank Stern of InsureBlog.
Preparing For Disaster
In a report in this morning’s St. Augustine Record, Associated Press reporter Ron Fournier […]

No–health systems today are still not prepared to handle the risk of a Katrina-level disaster, says one Gulf-area health care provider in an interview published today on Health Affairs’ Web site [2-week free access]. Other news stories today, the second anniversary of the Katrina hurricane, also highlight the long road ahead on the health care front. […]

Editor’s Note: Health Affairs’deputy editor Parmeeth Atwal spoke recently with Ashok Alexander, director of Avahan, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s HIV prevention initiative in India. Health Affairs devoted its current July/August issue to “Global Health Financing” with support from the Gates Foundation.
The Numbers
Atwal: The World Health Organization (WHO) and Indian health officials have disagreed […]

The rising prevalence of obesity is said to be threatening to drown the health care system under a wave of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. So some policymakers have suggested taxing foods high in saturated fats as a way to steer consumers clear of snacks that are bad for them and perhaps offset coming health care […]

What role should the U.S. government play in confronting global health challenges? What are Congress’s priorities for the reauthorization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and how much should be invested in research to help stem the AIDS pandemic? How can we protect 150 million people globally from suffering financial catastrophe each […]

How prepared are U.S. hospital emergency rooms to handle a public health emergency stemming from natural disaster or pandemic? According to witnesses and Members of Congress at a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last Friday—not very. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), who chaired the hearing, said in his opening statement:
“Last summer, Congress […]

Tuberculosis is being a seen as a greater threat to world health now than at any time in the past half-century. The symbiosis of HIV/AIDS with TB in Africa, along with the emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR-TB) and extensively drug restistant TB (XDR-TB) have only heightened concerns in developing countries. Even in a developed country such […]

Should doctors encourage patients to use a product that increases their chances of developing pancreatic cancer? Should public health agencies? This is a question that could confront the medical establishment if the Swedish moist smokeless tobacco known as “snus” becomes popular in the United States (and if the tobacco companies push the European Union to […]

The latest edition of Health Affairs’ GrantWatch [free access], highlights the new announcement by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) that “it will commit at least $500 million over the next five years” to work on the problem of childhood obesity. Its “goal is to reverse” the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States by […]

Don’t read this blog. Instead, close your door, unplug your phone, and click on this link, which will transport you to a lecture hall in downtown Washington, where five former directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) met recently to discuss the agency’s legacy and its future.
You can read here that […]

New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg spoke passionately today calling for “an overhaul of the health care system” to “solve the problem of the 16s”—that is, 16 percent of U.S gross domestic product spent on health care and 16 percent of Americans without insurance coverage. Mayor Bloomberg, sounding very presidential at the lunchtime keynote […]

At the January 19 briefing for the new issue of Health Affairs on cardiovascular disease (CVD), David McAlary from the Voice of America asked the panelists whether rich countries are committing any significant resources to deal with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including CVD, in poor countries. Both Tom Gaziano, author of an article on CVD in […]

At a strategic moment when funding remains in limbo as unfinished business from the last Congress, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has significant successes to report, says recently appointed Global AIDS Coordinator Mark Dybul, M.D. Ambassador Dybul made his remarks at a January 4 Global Health Council policy forum.