While U.S. policymakers struggle with efforts to stymie the resurgence of measles globally—in recent months cropping up at seemingly innocuous places like Disneyland—countries are faced with a beast of a different nature. In the United States, we are fortunate to be armed with a large supply of vaccines that have all but eliminated the most frequent killers of children under the age of 5, including smallpox, tetanus, and measles. In the developing world, however, there’s still a long way to go.
Read MoreFree Health Care in NYC Thwarted by Health Code: Much-Needed Services by Remote Area Medical Ironically Tangled in Regulation
The day after Thanksgiving, the 2014 Greater New York Dental Meeting (GNYDM) convened at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, bringing together thousands of health care professionals from across the country to six days of exhibitions, seminars, and workshops. Up until this August, Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps (RAM) had also planned to be in attendance, potentially bringing in hundreds of volunteers to provide a range of free health services to patients in need.
Read MoreHungry to Serve: Conscientious Objectors Key to WWII Advances in Nutrition
It was wartime in the 1940s. The first peacetime draft in the history of the United States had taken place in 1940. Amid extraordinary patriotism in the United States, often demonstrated by young men enlisting in the military to serve their country, there was scattered opposition to selective service. Indeed, a few hundred men had claimed the right to refuse to perform military service. These men, known as Conscientious Objectors (COs) and self-proclaimed human guinea pigs, served the country in other ways that contributed a great deal to our knowledge of everything from treatment for typhus and hepatitis to acute pneumonia and malaria.
Read MoreBerkeley vs. Big Soda
This Election Day, Berkeley and San Francisco, Calif. become the latest battleground cities in line to put a sugary beverage tax on the ballot—Measure D in Berkeley and Measure E in San Francisco. To date, more than 30 similar proposals have been tried by states and localities but none have passed.
Read MoreShow Me the Money
If you’ve ever played the state lottery, you’ve probably seen the advertisements reassuring you that your lucky dollars are going toward education, a fundamental component of socioeconomic status and determinant of population health. But where do lottery winnings really go?
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