Viewpoints: Hypertension Woefully Undertreated Worldwide; Academic Medicine Can Affect Social Change
Editorial writers discuss hypertension, medical schools, ACA, and more.
The Washington Post:
Hypertension, The World’s Leading Killer, Needs Focus And Funding
Hypertension, the “silent killer,” is the deadliest but most neglected and widespread pandemic of our time, killing more than 10 million people a year worldwide. More than a third of deaths from high blood pressure occur in adults younger than 70 years old and this proportion is even higher in low-income countries. (Tom Frieden, 2/7)
Newsweek:
U.S. Social Policy Is In Crisis. Academic Medicine Should Address It
Almost everyone who is currently enrolled in medical school has only ever trained in the context of crisis. Since the moment we submitted our applications in 2020, the United States has grappled with a never-ending stream of previously unprecedented public health events. A global pandemic, a reckoning with systemic racism, and a historic reversal of abortion rights have punctuated the consistent stream of environmental catastrophes, socioeconomic injustices, mass shootings, hate crimes, and overdose deaths that have unfortunately become our norm. (Sarah McNeilly and Vivian Kim, 2/6)
The Star Tribune:
Protect ACA As Enrollment Grows
The glitches accompanying the Affordable Care Act's rollout generated understandable criticism for years after its 2014 debut. But the landmark law's successes deserve the spotlight, too. (2/6)
Stat:
Problems With A Popular Proposal To Regulate AI In Health Care
As leaders across federal agencies swiftly advance regulations for AI in health care, one proposal now seems too big to fail. That proposal is for the implementation of AI assurance laboratories — places where AI model developers can develop and test AI models according to standard criteria that would be defined with regulators. (Mark P. Sendak, Nicholson Price, Karandeep Singh and Suresh Balu, 2/7)
Time:
Guns Are Not Just A Public Health Problem
The notion that guns cause a public health crisis best addressed through harm reduction strategies like background checks, red flag laws, or safe storage guidelines courses through the language of experts, doctors, activists, and media commentators. ... Yet I’ve spent the past five years interviewing gun owners and gunshot victims across the U.S. South for a new book, What We’ve Become, that tells the story of the 2018 Nashville Waffle House mass shooting. My research showed me time and again how, while the health frame can be effective on clinical and moral levels, it is less so at political ones. (Johnathan M. Metzl, 2/5)
