Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
The New York Times: The Father Of The Abortion Pill
When the idea struck him, nearly 50 years ago, Dr. Étienne-Émile Baulieu believed it could be revolutionary. Creating a pill that could abort a pregnancy would transform reproductive health care, he thought, allowing women to avoid surgery, act earlier and carry out their decisions in private. ... He had also hoped, as he wrote in a 1990 book, that by the 21st century, “paradoxically, the ‘abortion pill’ might even help eliminate abortion as an issue.” (Belluck, 1/17)
AP: Making Pig Livers Humanlike In Quest To Ease Organ Shortage
The ghostly form floating in a large jar had been the robust reddish-brown of a healthy organ just hours before. Now it’s semitranslucent, white tubes like branches on a tree showing through. This is a pig liver that’s gradually being transformed to look and act like a human one, part of scientists’ long quest to ease the nation’s transplant shortage by bioengineering replacement organs. (Neergaard, 1/17)
Fierce Healthcare: Elsevier Introduces More Expansive 3D Human Anatomy To Increase Racial Representation In Education
Elsevier’s updated 3D human anatomy model seeks to tie the tangible to the intangible—medical training tools to lingering racism within medicine. Complete Anatomy 2023 features the most expansive skin tone library available ever, according to the clinical practice content company. (Burky, 1/17)
The Guardian: ‘The Silent Disease’: Chagas Is A Killer. Now Carriers Want Their Voices Heard
It can be between 10 and 30 years before people develop symptoms so most are unaware they have Chagas, often called a “silent and silenced disease”. Some will never develop symptoms but up to a third suffer heart damage, which can lead to progressive heart failure or sudden death. Others (up to 10%) may experience abnormal enlargement of the colon or esophagus. About 12,000 people die from Chagas every year. It kills more people in Latin America than any other parasitic disease, including malaria. (Johnson, 1/16)
AP: Gates Foundation Takes Up Question Of Its Own Power
Does The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have too much power and influence? It’s a question the foundation’s CEO Mark Suzman raised in its annual letter released Tuesday that outlines the organization’s priorities and announces its budget for the coming year. With $8.3 billion to give away in 2023, the Gates Foundation is the largest private philanthropic donor. And with an endowment of more than $70 billion, its spending power is likely to continue for many decades. When asked in an interview with The Associated Press what he thought the answer to that question was, Suzman said, “No.” (Beaty, 1/17)
The New York Times: What Is Intuitive Eating? Meet The Duo Behind The Method
Intuitive eating, as conceived by the dietitian-nutritionist duo, is the practice of renouncing restrictive diets and the goal of weight loss and encouraging people to tune into the intuition that governed their eating as toddlers. This includes satiating hunger rather than trying to suppress or outsmart it; feeling your fullness (and pausing mid-meal to assess it); and savoring, even seeking pleasure from, food. Among the other principles are addressing emotional eating, emphasizing movement over “militant exercise” and practicing “gentle nutrition” — minding moderation and balance in one’s diet, but not too harshly. (Ruiz, 1/18)
Scientific American: Dads Have Been Older Than Moms Since The Dawn Of Humanity, Study Suggests
Men have consistently had children later in life than women throughout human history, suggests a study. The research used genetic mutations in modern human DNA to create a timeline of when people have tended to conceive children over the past 250,000 years, since our species first emerged. The timeline suggests that men have, on average, conceived children around seven years later then women. (Kreier, 1/18)
The Washington Post: Teen With Cerebral Palsy Set Harvard As His Goal. He Just Got In Early Acceptance
Since Matthew Myslenski was 6 years old, he said, attending Harvard University has been his goal. As a child, he became a frequent patient at Boston Children’s Hospital — the primary pediatric program of Harvard Medical School. “I’ve always looked up to my doctors at the hospital. They’re amazing people,” said Matthew, who hopes to become a physician one day, too. “When I found out they were associated with Harvard, I wanted to be a part of that.” (Page, 1/14)
Fortune: Here’s How To Be Truly Happy, According To The Longest Happiness Study In The World
In The Good Life, Dr. Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz distill what makes people find happiness from a study beginning in 1938 following the lives of 724 Harvard students and low-income boys from Boston in the world’s longest scientific study of happiness to date, according to the researchers. The ongoing study, which has expanded to include the spouses and children of the original participants, consists of over 2,000 people. (Mikhail, 1/14)
The Washington Post: How To Help Your Kids Be Happy
For Robert Waldinger, the question of what constitutes the “good life” isn’t a hypothetical. Waldinger directs the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which, for more than 80 years, has followed the lives of 724 participants and more than 1,300 of their descendants. ... According to Waldinger’s research, “The people who were most satisfied in their relationships at age 50 were the healthiest (mentally and physically) at age 80.” So how do we intentionally help our kids start down this path? (Kris, 1/19)
