Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
The Washington Post: Extreme Training Techniques Push Bodybuilders To Death, Or Close To It
Bodybuilders around the world are risking their lives and sometimes dying for the sport they love because of extreme measures that are encouraged by coaches, rewarded by judges and ignored by leaders of the industry, according to interviews with dozens of bodybuilders, coaches, judges, promoters, medical professionals and relatives of deceased athletes. (Abelson, Jones and Bauerova, 12/7)
The Boston Globe: AI Can Detect Signs Of Depression. Should We Let It?
"It’s time for your daily check-in,” a pop-up notification prods me. I click on my phone’s Mental Fitness app, which offers up the text prompt “How are you feeling today?” After I speak into the mic for 30 seconds, rambling about whatever comes to mind, the app churns out my well-being score on a 1-to-100 scale: “51: Pay Attention.” (Svoboda, 12/8)
USA Today: Wilderness Therapy Was Supposed To Help These ‘Troubled Teens.’ It Traumatized Them Instead
The bathroom consisted of a tarp tied between two trees. When Katelyn Haruko Schmisseur used it, she made eye contact with a staff member. She squatted, they stared. A requirement of her wilderness therapy program, they told her. Because of her eating disorder, a staff member was with her at all times almost the entire length of her stay in the Utah desert. A bucket lined with a biohazard bag acted as a receptacle for solid waste. As the weather got warmer, the smell got stronger. The flies were incessant. (Moniuszko, 12/8)
The Washington Post: The Crisis Of Student Mental Health Is Much Vaster Than We Realize
The change was gradual. At first, Riana Alexander was always tired. Then she began missing classes. She had been an honors student at her Arizona high school, just outside Phoenix. But last winter, after the isolation of remote learning, then the overload of a full-on return to school, her grades were slipping. She wasn’t eating a lot. She avoided friends. Her worried mother searched for mental health treatment. Finally, in the spring, a three-day-a-week intensive program for depression helped the teenager steady herself and “want to get better,” Alexander said. Then, as she was finding her way, a girl at her school took her own life. Then a teen elsewhere in the district did the same. Then another. (St. George and Strauss, 12/5)
The Wall Street Journal: South Korea Passes New Law Making Everyone A Little Younger
As the rest of the world ages, South Koreans are getting younger. South Korea’s parliament passed laws Thursday abolishing the traditional method of determining ages, which will officially make everyone in the country a year or two younger starting in June 2023. Unlike in most of the world, people in South Korea turn 1 as soon as they are born and gain another year every New Year’s Day. In everyday life, South Koreans typically cite their “Korean age,” which is also reflected on many government documents. (Yoon, 12/9)
ProPublica: Workers Across America Break Their Silence on Decades of Asbestos Exposure
When LaTunja Caster started working at the Olin Corp. chemical plant outside of McIntosh, Alabama, she had no idea that asbestos was used in the production process. But when she became a union safety representative around 2007, she started to pay attention. In certain parts of the plant, “you would see it all the time,” she said. “You definitely breathed it in.” (McGrory, 12/7)
Harvard Public Health: Cholera Outbreaks Surge Worldwide, Renewing Debates On Vaccines
A pandemic outbreak has erupted across the globe this year. It’s not COVID-19, monkeypox, or measles. It’s cholera, a diarrheal disease that has killed millions since it emerged from the Ganges delta in the 19th century. The current cholera pandemic, the world’s seventh, began in 1961. “More people are infected now on a yearly basis than at any other point,” said Edward Ryan, Director of Global Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital. Floods, armed conflict, and other emergencies have contributed to unprecedented outbreaks in 29 countries, including Haiti, Lebanon, and Malawi. (Bajaj, 12/7)
