Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
A 2007 NBER working paper by Banerjee, Iyer and Somanathan presents the following facts: “In Nepal, access to schools is ten times better in the best districts compared to the worst. For Kenyan provinces, this ratio is 8:1; it is more than 2:1 for both Indian states and Russian regions and slightly over 1.5:1 for…
In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal (“In China…“), there is an interesting article about health care in rural China. The article gets at the heart of a number of health care issues: Physicians paid on a fee-for-service basis treat their patients more intensely compared to physicians paid on a salaried or capitation basis. In rural China,…
The Economist magazine (“Pyramid power“) has an interesting article on how to get reading glasses to poor individuals in third world countries. Below are two excerpts: Government health clinics are understandably preoccupied with life-threatening maladies and urban optical shops typically shun simple reading glasses in favour of costly, high-margin prescription glasses. But this neglect takes…
In earlier posts, I have reported on health issues in China—such as the AIDS epidemic in western China and problems of potable water in northern China. Today, the Boston Globe has an interesting report on The graying of China. While China is still relatively young now, the country will age quickly. With the implementation of the…
The New York Times has an interesting article (“China’s Muslims…“) of how AIDS is affecting Muslims in western China. The newspaper reports that there is a “sea change by the Chinese public health establishment” in which intravenous drug users are now being sent to treatment instead of jail. The major impetus for this change was…
Media that Matters is an organization dedicated to producing films portraying controversial issues relevant to today’s society and encouraging viewers to work towards social change. While the organization is heavily left leaning politically, they do have a wide variety of health-related films (see health/health advocacy section). I did come across an interesting short film regarding…
On Wednesday, Marketplace on NPR ran a story on how providing eye care to individuals in the developing world can not only improve their well-being, but increase economic productivity. Fortunately, low cost solutions are available. To view the story, click here. Some excerpts are below: “153 million people around the world live with poor vision…
In Sunday’s L.A. Times I found two articles regarding population growth. The first (“America at 300 million“) notes that although the U.S. is nearing 300 million people, there is plenty of space available for these newcomers. Although the birth rate is still not at replacement, the recent increase in immigration has allowed the U.S. to…
Economist Tyler Cowen of George Mason University has an interesting paper (“Avian Flu: What should be done“) on the optimal policy to combat avian flu. Below, I cite a few of the more interesting points from his executive summary: Prepare social norms and emergency procedures which would limit or delay the spread of a pandemic. Regular hand…
Zeyad is a Baghdad-based dentist, and the author of the Healing Iraq blog. In his post on The Guardian website, Zeyad describes how corruption is siphoning off medical supplies from physicians who need them for patient care. Even in areas where terrorism is not a problem, the health care is still abismal. Zeyad states: “The…