Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Malaria Vaccine Is Cause For Celebration; Court System Harms Those With Mental Health Issues
The New York Times: A New Malaria Vaccine Marks A Critical Moment For Africa
Like many who work in public health, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, I’ve been waiting my whole career for a malaria vaccine. And even longer than that: I suffered from severe malaria when I was 10. The World Health Organization has now endorsed the first vaccine as a complementary tool for widespread use among children in at-risk areas, including my country, Senegal. This announcement, hailed as “historic” by the W.H.O. and global health experts worldwide, is indeed cause for celebration. Malaria is a preventable disease that has been virtually eliminated in wealthy countries and yet kills around 400,000 people a year, mostly African children. (Yacine Djibo, 10/10)
Chicago Tribune: People With Mental Health Struggles Shouldn't Be Trapped In Our Court System
Over the last year and a half, our mental health was universally affected as we dealt with the trauma, isolation, radical change and intense powerlessness brought on by the pandemic. Though challenging, these experiences have also led to open and empathetic conversations about the struggles we all face with our mental health and the resources available to those most in need. With this heightened awareness about our collective well-being, it’s time we confront a complicated and difficult reality that has gone ignored for too long: Thousands of individuals suffering from mental health crises end up in our criminal court system, a system that cannot adequately address their needs. (Alexa James, 10/11)
USA Today: Nursing Shortage: Unsafe Working Conditions Push RNs Out Of Hospitals
Listening to hospital executives lament the "nursing shortage" is beyond infuriating. Nurses know the United States is not feeling a true nursing shortage, only a shortage of nurses willing to risk their licenses or their patients’ lives by working in unsafe conditions. Except for a few states, plenty of registered nurses are available to meet this country’s needs, according to a 2017 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report on the supply and demand of the nursing workforce from 2014 to 2030. (Bonnie Castillo, 10/11)
The Washington Post: It’s Barbaric To Use Animals To Test Pharmaceuticals
Every now and then, a sliver of sanity seeps through the barricade of national lunacy. This past week, a handful of bipartisan lawmakers introduced two bills aimed at ending one of our nation’s most-barbaric practices — mandatory animal testing of new pharmaceuticals destined for human trials. It’s been a while since I’ve performed a midair, double-heeled click, but I managed a reasonable facsimile upon hearing this news. The Senate’s “FDA Modernization Act” and the House’s H.R. 2565 set the stage for a groundbreaking move to end animal suffering while also advancing timelier and more efficient drug development. (Kathleen Parker, 10/8)
Stat: Health Disparities For Filipinxs Are Disguised By Data Aggregation
As some nurses across the country choose to stop working rather than comply with vaccine mandates, some hospitals are recruiting nurses in the Philippines to fill their staffing gaps. That will only further heighten the burden borne by Filipinx nurses, and other Filipinx health care workers, in the United States. Since the outset of the pandemic, it has become abundantly clear that social and economic factors shaped by the U.S.’s history of structural racism have caused disproportionate numbers of deaths among racial and ethnic minority groups due to Covid-19. Lost in the conversation have been the experiences of Asian American communities, and Filipinxs in particular. (Carlos Irwin A. Oronce, 10/11)
Scientific American: A Big Bet On Nanotechnology Has Paid Off
We’re now more than two decades out from the initial announcement of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), a federal program from President Bill Clinton founded in 2000 to support nanotechnology research and development in universities, government agencies and industry laboratories across the United States. It was a significant financial bet on a field that was better known among the general public for science fiction than scientific achievement. Today it’s clear that the NNI did more than influence the direction of research in the U.S. It catalyzed a worldwide effort and spurred an explosion of creativity in the scientific community. And we’re reaping the rewards not just in medicine, but also clean energy, environmental remediation and beyond. (Chad Mirkin, 10/9)
Modern Healthcare: Cancer Care Must Crack The Diversity Code
We can credit clinical trials for great improvements made in cancer care in recent years. Death rates for 11 of the 19 most common cancers in men and 14 of the 20 most common cancers in women decreased between 2014 and 2018. But there's a large hole in these improvements: a lack of diversity. (Dr. Richard Barakat, 10/8)
