Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: We Can Still Get Control of Antimicrobial Resistance; Latinos Are Only Group With Rising HIV Numbers
Scientific American: The U.S. Must Lead The Global Fight Against Superbugs
Most Americans could probably guess that heart disease, diabetes and cancer are among the world’s fastest-growing causes of death. Yet one rapidly accelerating health threat now lurks under the radar, despite its devastating consequences. The threat comes from antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, the evolved immunity of dangerous microbes to lifesaving drugs. (Howard Dean, 11/13)
Miami Herald: CDC Numbers Offer Good News On HIV Infections Overall But Reveal A Crisis For Latinos
When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published data in May of this year that showed overall progress in reducing new HIV infections, everyone breathed a sigh of relief — and had the sense that the light at the end of the tunnel in a 40-year epidemic was getting brighter. Of course, the paradox of progress is that it reveals how much further we must go. Case in point: The same CDC data also revealed a largely invisible crisis facing Latinos. (Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, 11/13)
Stat: Tech Bans Won’t, And Can’t, Fix Teen Mental Health
You’re probably not worried about the role that Strava is playing in the teen mental health crisis. But you should be. Strava seems extremely benign — especially compared to an app like Instagram or TikTok. It simply “lets you track your running and riding with GPS, join Challenges, share photos from your activities, and follow friends,” in the company’s own words. Yet we recently heard a high school track coach point to Strava as an example of how tech can contribute to the pressure teens face. Even during the off-season, teens see how their runs compare with those of their peers three towns over or three states away. Competition isn’t confined to competitions; it’s accessible and quantifiable all year long. (Emily Weinstein and Sara Konrath, 11/14)
The New York Times: On Transgender Issues, Voters Want Common Sense
During the closing weeks of the election, Republican campaigns spent over $65 million on ads ridiculing, among several candidates, Kamala Harris for supporting “taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners” and “illegal aliens,” all ending with variations on the tagline: “Kamala Harris is for they/them. President Trump is for you.” (Pamela Paul, 11/14)
Stat: Chaplains’ Overlooked But Crucial Role In Health Care
As a medical intern in the late 1980s, I’d occasionally see priests and rabbis on hospital wards, but we basically ignored one another. When we doctors walked into a patient’s room, they’d quickly leave, and when we exited, they’d enter. They seemed to operate in a wholly different realm. After all, we were scientific. They weren’t. But in recent years, as patients’ and their families’ religious, spiritual, and existential attitudes and needs have shifted, so, too, have chaplains. (Robert Klitzman, 11/14)
