Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
Undark: Schools Launched Anti-Obesity Policies. Experts Say They Failed
Among Lexie Manion's memories of her junior year of high school in New Jersey was the experience of being regularly hassled by a school nurse who was trying to weigh her. The nurse, Manion recalled, was trying to get Manion’s weight on file — a common practice at schools across the United States, which aim to use the data to improve student health. But for Manion, who had an eating disorder, the experience was deeply distressing. The thought of getting on a scale in school — of someone other than her doctor handling this sensitive measurement — terrified Manion. It also triggered her eating disorder: She began to restrict her food intake more intensely to lose weight before the school nurse put her on a scale. (Salazar, 7/29)
The Wall Street Journal: Forget Cutting Sugar—New Tech Makes It Healthier Instead
A guilt-free chocolate bar, full of sugar, could someday land at a supermarket near you. The chocolate would look and taste normal, and contain the same amount of sugar. But an enzyme, encased in an edible substance and added to the bar, would reduce how much sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream, and even turn it into a fiber that is good for your gut. (Newman, 7/31)
CNN: First Olympics Nursery Is A Step Forward, Athletes Say, But Much Remains To Do
Just outside the perimeter of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Village was a special room, the only space near the village where athletes with young children were directed to care for their babies. (Davis, 7/28)
Harvard Public Health: The Cutting Edge Of CRISPR Is In Nigeria
Just outside the center of Ede, Nigeria, on the campus of Redeemer’s University, a sort of mirage rises from the red earth: a pair of sleek, almost-completed two-story structures surrounded by elegant gardens featuring native plants. The stores along the high road to Ede, population 160,000, are mostly open-faced wooden shelters, their roofs propped up by crooked tree branches. They couldn’t be in sharper contrast to the $11 million headquarters of the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID). (Donahue, 7/30)
The New York Times: For Epidemics To Cross Oceans, Viruses On Ships Had To Beat The Odds
On Dec. 22, 1874, the H.M.S. Dido arrived in Fiji from Sydney, Australia, carrying about 200 people and an invisible payload. A king of Fiji and his son, who were on the ship, were infected with measles. When they debarked, they started an epidemic that killed 20,000 people in Fiji — up to one-fourth of the population — who had no immunity to the disease. But in those days, when people traveled by sail or steam, such events were the exception rather than the rule. (Kolata, 7/26)
