Tag: Health Care

  • Health

    Low-income diabetic women at increased risk for postpartum depression

    Researchers at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and the University of Minnesota have found that living just above the poverty line and having diabetes increases by 50 percent a woman’s chance of developing postpartum depression — a serious illness that affects about one in 10 new mothers.

    2–3 minutes
  • Health

    Clinicians override most medication safety alerts

    Computer-based systems that allow clinicians to prescribe drugs electronically are designed to automatically warn of potential medication errors, but a new study reveals clinicians often override the alerts and rely instead on their own judgment.

    3–4 minutes
  • Health

    Rights, AIDS, past and future

    Sixty years after the United Nations declared health care a basic human right, the AIDS epidemic highlights how much work remains to be done as the disease rages on among populations with little access to quality care.

    4–6 minutes
  • Health

    Early success highlights need for more progress

    Many of the 500,000 African babies born infected with HIV each year won’t live past age 2, a fact made even more appalling by the fact that doctors know how to halt mother-to-child HIV transmission.

    5–7 minutes
  • Health

    Cutler finds decline in cancer deaths

    Improvements in behavior and screening have contributed greatly to the 13 percent decline in cancer mortality since 1990, with better cancer treatments playing a supporting role, according to new research from David Cutler of Harvard University.

    2–3 minutes
  • Health

    Health disparities in Boston focus of talk at HSPH Community Partnership Day

    Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and the city’s top health official, Barbara Ferrer, speaking at the Harvard School of Public Health’s (HSPH) 18th Annual Community Partnership Day, said efforts to end racial health disparities must go forward in the city even as the nation’s economy falters.

    3–4 minutes
  • Health

    In survey, patients give some high, some low marks to hospitals

    The quality of hospitals across the United States is inconsistent. To address this issue, the federal government and private organizations have begun to publicly report data, such as how well hospitals treat certain conditions. But until now, there has been no data on how patients themselves feel about the care they received. A new study…

    2–3 minutes
  • Health

    Obama voters much more likely to believe outcome will impact health care

    As part of the ongoing poll series “Debating Health: Election 2008,” the Harvard Public Opinion Research Program at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Harris Interactive conducted a new survey focused on whether voters believe the results of this presidential election will make “a great deal of difference” in the state of the…

    2–3 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Incoming HSPH dean receives Clinton Global Citizen Award

    Julio Frenk, who will become dean of the Harvard School of Public Health in January 2009, has received a Clinton Global Citizen Award. In naming Frenk, along with four other individuals, former President William J. Clinton said, “The Global Citizen Awards are about honoring and inspiring service to humanity. Our award recipients were chosen from…

    1–2 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Candidates’ advisers talk health policy

    With an estimated 47 million Americans lacking health insurance, the subject of health care in the next administration has taken center stage as presidential nominees John McCain and Barack Obama approach election day. Senior health care advisers to both nominees hashed out the similarities and differences between the candidates’ stances at a jam-packed “great debate”…

    4–6 minutes
  • Health

    Research in brief

    BLACKS, HISPANICS LESS LIKELY TO GET FOLLOW-UP RADIATION THERAPY, BLACKS MORE LIKELY TO CHOOSE AGGRESSIVE CARE AT END OF LIFE

    2–3 minutes
  • Nation & World

    Haiti: Malnutrition

    In Haiti, malnutrition is the most serious threat to pediatric health.

    1–2 minutes
  • Health

    Americans split on socialized medicine

    During the course of the presidential nomination campaigns, some candidates’ health care plans have been described as “socialized medicine.” Historically, that phrase has been used to criticize health reform proposals in the United States.

    2–4 minutes
  • Health

    Ethicists, philosophers discuss selling of human organs

    In nearly every country in the world, there is a shortage of kidneys for transplantation. In the United States, around 73,000 people are on waiting lists to receive a kidney. Yet 4,000 die every year before the lifesaving organ is available.

    6–8 minutes
  • Campus & Community

    Martin wins prize for research, innovation

    Internationally renowned Canadian neuroscientist Joseph B. Martin, dean of the Harvard Faculty of Medicine, was recently named the inaugural winner of the Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research.

    2–4 minutes