Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: More Than Ozempic Is Needed To Fight Obesity; How Can Doctors Justify Immoral Actions?
In the United States (where I now split my time), over 70 percent of people are overweight or obese, and according to one poll, 47 percent of respondents said they were willing to pay to take the new weight-loss drugs. It’s not hard to see why. (Johann Hari, 5/7)
Last month the Department of Health and Human Services issued new guidance requiring written informed consent for pelvic exams and other intimate procedures performed under anesthesia. Much of the force behind the new requirement came from distressed medical students who saw these pelvic exams as wrong and summoned the courage to speak out. (Carl Elliott, 5/7)
The presence of H5N1 avian influenza virus, better known as bird flu, among dairy cows in Texas — the second largest producer of dairy cattle — was first confirmed in late March. By then, H5N1 had likely been circulating among dairy cows for months. Six weeks later, the nine states responsible for more than one-quarter of U.S. dairy production, which accounts for 3.5% of the U.S.’s gross domestic product, had each reported H5N1 cases in dairy cows and continue to do so. (Shweta Bansal and Colleen Webb, 5/7)
At the end of February 1960, my healthy, precocious sister Marcie was halfway through the fourth grade when she contracted measles from a classmate who lived down the street. Their cases were among the nearly 500,000 that year, before the measles vaccination program began in the U.S. in 1963. For every 1,000 people who get measles, one develops measles encephalitis, which can cause permanent brain damage. Marcie was one. (Emmi S. Herman, 5/7)
Physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for death. With most adolescents and one-quarter of adults not meeting the World Health Organization’s recommended levels of physical activity, and big disparities across income, age, sex, education and race/ethnicity, it’s more important than ever to re-energize a movement for increasing physical activity (PA) to improve health. The question is: How? (Laurie Whitsel, John Hernandez and Candice Taguibao, 5/6)
