Category Archives: Medicine

History of science or medicine, Journalism, Medicine

Why neglecting immigrants’ health is a terrible idea, especially in a pandemic

THE Trump administration’s colossal mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic isn’t over, and won’t be for a long time after the current president’s departure. There’s a sting in that administration’s tail, whose poison is already spreading through the US population. It has been invisible until now, at least in the higher echelons of power, but as the mass vaccination campaign moves into its next phase its effects are becoming painfully and tragically obvious. The sting has an innocuous-sounding name: the public charge rule…

This article first appeared in The Guardian on 14 January 2021. To continue reading, click here.

 

History of science or medicine, Journalism, Medicine

Hospitals without walls: the future of healthcare

ST Mary’s hospital was slated for a £1bn redevelopment before the pandemic struck, with work due to start in 2027. The main emergency and specialist hospital serving north-west London will still get its upgrade, but it might look quite different now. “Covid-19 has dramatically changed things,” says James Kinross, a surgeon who works at St Mary’s and sits on its redevelopment planning committee…

This article first appeared in The Observer on 2 January 2021. To continue reading, click here.

Journalism, Medicine

Our definition of health security needs an overhaul

IN October 2019, in those halcyon pre-Covid-19 days, a chart was published that ranked 195 countries according to their capacity to deal with outbreaks of infectious disease. Drawn up by the Washington DC-based Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore, Maryland, the 2019 Global Health Security Index (GHSI) placed the US and UK first and second, respectively. South Korea came ninth, New Zealand 35th and China 51st, while a number of African countries brought up the rear…

This article first appeared in The Guardian on 29 December 2020. To continue reading, click here.

Forensic, Journalism, Medicine, People, Psychology

The great opportunity: how Covid transformed global crime

BY the end of March, one week into the UK’s first lockdown, recorded crime in Lancashire had dropped by a startling 40% compared with the four-year average. “At first there was some mild panic,” says DCI Eric Halford, of Lancashire Constabulary. “Most senior officers expected a surge in demand…”

This article first appeared in The Guardian on 27 December 2020. To continue reading, click here.

Journalism, Medicine

Update on KK Shailaja and her ‘Covid brigade’

BY mid-May, the Indian state of Kerala had contained the first wave of Covid-19, earning praise for the quick thinking and joined-up response of its health minister, KK Shailaja, and her team. By July, however, there were suggestions that those plaudits had been premature, and that Kerala’s Covid-19 response had come unstuck. Had it…?

This article first appeared in The Guardian on 22 December 2020. To continue reading, click here.