Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Pandemic Spurs Growth In Mental Health Treatments; Promising New Drugs For Depression
Scientific American: How The Pandemic Is Changing Mental Health
Necessity is the mother of invention, and 2020 pushed the world like never before to find creative solutions to a litany of challenges, first and foremost in the medical field. From drug discovery to vaccine manufacturing to care delivery, COVID has animated clinicians, researchers, entrepreneurs and policy makers to radically rethink every facet of the health care ecosystem. (P. Murali Doraiswamy, Cameron Fox and Joshua Gordon, 9/14)
Scientific American: Novel Drug Therapies Could Tackle Treatment-Resistant Depression
Depression affects more than 264 million people of all ages globally. The World Health Organization ranks depression as one of the most debilitating diseases to society. It is the leading cause of disability worldwide and the psychiatric diagnosis most commonly associated with suicide, which accounts for nearly 800,000 deaths globally each year. Individuals suffering from depression may face an inability to manage life’s demands and maintain social connections, affecting all aspects of their experiences, from school and employment to relationships and overall quality of life. (Husseini Manji and Joseph Hayes, 9/14)
Stat: NIH Needs To Create A National Institute Of Surgery
I recently received the 42nd grant rejection of my academic career, bringing my overall success rate down to 10%. I was disappointed, of course, but rejection is a well-entrenched part of the academic game. It prompted me, though, to look at this game from the perspective of a surgeon who works in global health and writes grants to fund surgery research. (Mark G. Shrime, 9/15)
The Boston Globe: Democrats Need A New Social Security — Paid Family And Medical Leave Is It
Since Joe Biden’s election, Democrats have compared their challenge with the one Franklin D. Roosevelt and his party faced during the New Deal: enact policies that simultaneously address pressing problems and broaden Democrats’ coalition of allied voters and supportive groups. The lodestar is Social Security — a breakthrough that transformed retirement for the better and forged enduring bonds between working Americans and the Democratic party. Famously, FDR told an adviser that the design of Social Security wasn’t about economics but “politics all the way through.” The goal, the president quipped, was to ensure “no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program.” (Vicki Shabo and Jacob S. Hacker, 9/14)
Los Angeles Times: A Diary Of Black Vaccination Hesitancy
Tuesday, Aug. 3: After going weeks without speaking to each other because I yelled at my mom about not getting vaccinated, she finally calls me from her home in Texas. The news: She has just tested positive for COVID-19. Thursday, Aug. 5: I call my mom and we fight until I have persuaded her to call her doctor. I advise her to outline all of her symptoms in detail and to take his advice, even the antibody infusion, the COVID treatment given emergency-use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in November. The fact that the treatment is so new makes her nervous. (Espie Randolph III, 9/15)
The Washington Post: Maurice Hilleman Was A Vaccine Miracle Worker. Imagine What Anti-Vaxxers Would Have Made Of Him
Long before there was Operation Warp Speed, there was Maurice Hilleman. Before the magnificent multibillion-dollar project to find a vaccine for covid-19, there was a guy from Montana with the brilliance of a great scientist and the swagger of a cowboy. Hilleman created more than 40 vaccines. In the 1950s, he and his team stopped a rampaging pandemic. Across his career, he saved millions of lives. A person who saves one life is a hero. What do we call the person who saves too many to count? (David Von Drehle, 9/14)
