As public health experts raise alarm over the prevalence of highly toxic “forever chemicals,” as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS are commonly known, one nonprofit investigative journalism outlet warned Saturday that a recent ruling could further tie up the regulatory process for the chemicals and other harmful substances. “This ruling is likely to impede already excruciatingly slow…
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Puerto Rico declared a public health emergency this week as cases of dengue fever, a potentially deadly mosquito-borne infection, rise precipitously across the United States territory. In the emergency order, the commonwealth’s department of health said it had recorded 549 cases of the disease this year so far, a 140 percent increase over the same period a year ago. The numbers have “surpassed…
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced this month that it has significantly weakened its COVID-19 guidance, reversing course in its recommendation of a five-day isolation period for people testing positive for the disease. The CDC’s new guidance states that people testing positive with COVID-19 only need to isolate for one day if they do not have a fever and symptoms are…
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The slang definition of “unwinding” means “to chill.” Other definitions include: to relax, disentangle, undo — all words that, on the surface, appear both passive and peaceful. And yet in Google searches involving such seemingly harmless definitions of decompressing and resting, news articles abound about the end of pandemic-era Medicaid expansion programs — a topic that, for the millions of…
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In an unusual hearing off the notorious “shadow docket,” the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday in a case that threatens to freeze the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) plan for cracking down on harmful air pollution that crosses state lines and contributes to smog in communities across the country. The EPA updated federal smog standards in 2015 to ensure cleaner air nationwide…
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As Israeli forces raid Nasser Hospital in Gaza, trapping hundreds of patients there and arresting medical staff, we speak with emergency room physician Dr. Thaer Ahmad, who just recently returned to the United States after three weeks volunteering at the hospital. “We’re just asking that hospitals not be targeted, that they not be bombed, and that doctors and nurses can provide for their patients…
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Scientists are increasingly alarmed over the soaring amounts of microplastics (small pieces of plastic less than five millimeters) and nanoplastics (extremely small, sub-micrometer plastic particles) being discovered throughout our planet, our bodies and our food. Just this past January, new studies found huge numbers of plastic particles in bottled water and microplastics in nearly 90 percent of…
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New data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) 2022 Census of Agriculture shows that 1.7 billion animals are currently being raised in U.S. factory farms every year – a 6 percent increase from 2016 and nearly a 50 percent increase from 20 years ago. “The largest factory farms that are bad for farmers, the environment and public health keep growing in number,” Anne Schechinger…
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When epidemiologist and parent Rebecca Fielding-Miller heard that California was going to allow asymptomatic, COVID-19-positive students to attend school without quarantining, she was stunned. Under California’s new policy, students (and school workers) can return to the classroom “as long as they are asymptomatic and are improving” and have been free of fever for 24 hours without medication.
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By Claudia Tally in Port Moresby
Sixty four compartments of Papua New Guinea’s main mortuary have been out of service since the festive season while a new refrigerated container has also broken down, leaving the hospital looking for room while another 257 dead bodies lie unclaimed.
Port Moresby General Hospital Chief Executive Officer Dr Paki Molumi confirmed with the Post-Courier that the mortuary is full and that a mass burial is expected in the next three weeks.
The storage issue at the country’s biggest hospital is recurrent despite promises and assistance from the national government, the National Capital District Commission, the NCD Provincial Health Authority, partner agencies and others.
The hospital’s Director of Medical Services Dr Koni Sobi said due to the ageing infrastructure, repairing these compartments was an issue.
“The cooling system of a particular container broke down last week,” he said.
“A contractor was engaged last week but they are unable to get inside and do repair work until we empty that container of all human bodies and body parts.
“The 64 compartments’ chiller in the main mortuary building have also been out of service since the festive season. There is a contractor working to repair it. However, it is a very old unit, needs replacing or a major rehabilitation work, which is undergoing this process at the moment,” Dr Sobi said.
Seven bodies lying in open
When the Post-Courier visited the mortuary on Wednesday, at least seven bodies were left lying outside in the open waiting for relatives to come forward.
Meanwhile, the unpleasant smell from the morgue has affected residents nearby.
Dr Sobi explained that the POMGEN mortuary workers had began shifting the bodies from the container where the cooling system had broken down to five other containers, however the other containers were also full.
“We have bodies in the morgue since September 2023. Currently there are 257 bodies and body parts.
“The smell is evident often when the container is opened to remove body or bodies.
“Preparations for another mass burial have commenced and expected to take place within the next 3 weeks,” he said.
The hospital is now appealing to relatives to come forward and collect bodies of their loved ones for burial.
Claudia Tally is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering a new approval for a pesticide that would be used on Florida oranges and grapefruits despite the fact that agency scientists have repeatedly found the chemical does not meet safety standards designed to protect children’s health, internal agency records show. EPA emails suggest that persistent pressure from chemical industry lobbyists…
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As the United Nations climate talks cast a spotlight on the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency, the U.S. law firm Our Children’s Trust on Sunday launched a constitutional lawsuit against the Biden administration on behalf of 18 California children “growing up with polluted air and a government-imposed and -sanctioned climate crisis.” Filed in the U.S. District Court in the Central District of…
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For the better part of a decade, researchers working at the intersection of climate change and human health have been desperately sounding alarm bells about the significant public health threats lurking in every tenth of a degree of planetary warming. Billions of people are at risk from illnesses linked to extreme heat; malnutrition following crop failure; bacteria and viruses that lurk in…
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Plastic trash produced by the company PepsiCo has become a “persistent and dangerous form of plastic pollution” for residents of the Buffalo River watershed in upstate New York, according to a new lawsuit filed Wednesday. The suit, brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, is one of the first legal challenges from a state against a major plastic producer. It draws on a 2022 investigation…
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Throughout the blazing summer of 2023, reporters dutifully marked prior heat records being demolished repeatedly across the nation. New record-setting high temperatures were noted almost daily, and in city after city, a raft of new hottest June, July and August monthlong records were marked in towering fonts. Far fewer stories, however, sought to document what that extreme heat meant for working…
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Hurricane Ian slammed into southwest Florida as a Category 4 storm in September last year, killing 149 people — the most deaths attributable to a single hurricane in the state in nearly a century. But the official death count didn’t include one of the most gruesome ways people died as a result of the storm. A study published this week found that Hurricane Ian led to a spike in cases of vibriosis…
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For a state whose politicians often obsess over being on the leading edge of progressive issues, California’s approach to paid sick leave has put it surprisingly behind the curve. The current law — a minimum of three days or 24 hours per year for workers — only looks good in comparison with the majority of states that don’t mandate any paid leave at all. Among the 15 states (and the District of…
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By Pauliasi Mateboto in Suva
One in 50 Fijian children could have rheumatic heart disease and children between the ages of five to 15 years are the most at risk of rheumatic fever.
While revealing these alarming statistics, Health Secretary Dr James Fong revealed the high figures indicated the high screening conducted by the ministry, which was a positive sign in terms of early detection and early mitigation.
Speaking at the World Heart Day celebration in Suva yesterday, he said the ministry was focused on dedicating the best care to those diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease (RHD).
It had been proven that with the best medical care, patients of the disease lived a long life.
Dr Fong highlighted the ministry’s advocacy and early detection awareness in the community remained the focus of the ministry, as it saw an opportunity to reach many Fijians as possible.
Meanwhile, Maca Tikoicina, the grandmother of young Jaydee Tikocina who was diagnosed with RHD last year, shared the painful experience their family had endured in the past 12 months.
She stated Jaydee was diagnosed in September 2022 and had to drop out of school as he became too weak and unable to carry out normal duties.
She highlighted that following through with doctors’ consultations, taking the prescribed medicines on time and following the strict injection schedule of one injection after every 21 days resulted in significant improvement in her grandchild’s life.
“When the doctors screened him in March, they noted some improvements in his heart at the recent check earlier this month, we were told Jaydee can play sports again,” she said.
According to Tikocina, sports and other physical activities were some of the many activities and joys that Jaydee was barred from when he was initially diagnosed.
Tikocina urged parents and guidance to get their children checked early and if they are diagnosed, the key was following medical advice.
She also encouraged Fijians to take advantage of the free screening programmes and outreaches organised by the Ministry of Health.
Pauliasi Mateboto is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
The United States announced plans to send depleted uranium to Ukraine earlier this month. Uranium is very dense, which is useful on the battlefield: Bullets that have elements of depleted uranium can pierce armor, and tanks made of depleted uranium stand up well against enemy fire. Almost all the reporting about the move includes the clarification that adverse health risks of depleted uranium — a…
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This story was originally published at Prism. Over the past three and a half years, Cynthia Adinig, a marketing specialist and mother living in Virginia with her 8-year-old son, has become a prominent advocate for patients with long COVID and other chronic illnesses. She’s been featured in The Washington Post and other major media outlets, testified before Congress on long COVID…
After the uninsured rate fell to an all-time low of 8 percent in 2022, nearly 6.8 million people have lost their Medicaid health coverage since the so-called unwinding of federal pandemic protections began earlier this year. Observers say it’s the largest simultaneous loss of health coverage in United States history, with impacts threatening to reverberate through the already struggling health…
Child gun deaths hit a record high in 2021, breaking the previous record set just one year before, new research finds. A total of 4,752 children in the U.S. died gun-related deaths in 2021, a new study found using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. This is an 8.8 percent increase in the pediatric gun mortality rate for 2020 and a staggering 41.5 percent increase from 2018.
A GPs advocacy group says that practices learned from the covid-19 pandemic, like staying home when sick or wearing masks in health facilities, should remain in place to halt the spread of infectious diseases.
As of August 15, the mandates ended for the seven-day isolation period and masks in health settings, with the Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall saying wastewater testing showed little trace of the virus.
Dr Verrall acknowledged many would still feel vulnerable.
“So it is on all of us to think well if we’re visiting an aged residential care home for example, that we do follow the recommended procedures there.
“Te Whatu Ora will continue to encourage people to wear masks when they go to hospital — they won’t be mandated.”
Covid cases accounted for just over 2 percent of hospital admissions, Dr Verrall said.
Last step on wind down
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins told RNZ Morning Report this was the last step in winding down covid-19 restrictions.
“We waited until after the winter peak period. The health system overall, while it’s been under pressure and it’s still under pressure, had a much better winter this winter than last winter.”
He said it was on the advice of the director-general of health and there was never a perfect time to make changes to health settings.
General Practice New Zealand chair Dr Bryan Betty said practices like mask wearing and self-isolation should be encouraged for all viruses, not just Covid.
He told Morning Report people needed to continue with the lessons that were learnt from covid but which were applicable to all viruses that were spread from person-to-person such as influenza and RSV.
“Voluntarily staying at home if you do have a flu or a cold so you don’t spread it, and I think masking in public areas of health facilities voluntarily is something we should still keep in play.”
Health providers should consider ensuring masks were worn in places where sick people gathered such as hospitals or GPs’ waiting areas, Dr Betty said.
Vaccination still important
Vaccination would still play an important part in reducing infection and re-infection, he said.
“We do that every year for influenza, we are potentially going forward going to be recommending that for covid, especially for vulnerable populations.”
Employers should be considering how to support workers so they do not come into work sick, he said.
Employers should give people with colds, the flu or Covid the opportunity to work from home if they can to avoid spreading the illness around the workplace, he said.
University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker also urged people to stay home when they were sick with covid-19, even though all of the health restrictions had been lifted.
Professor Baker told Morning Report that covid had transitioned from a pandemic threat to an endemic infectious disease.
“Unfortunately that means it’s there the whole time, it is still in New Zealand among the infectious diseases, the leading cause of death and hospitalisation and we know that those infections and reinfections are going to add to that burden of long covid.”
Still vital to isolate
People must remember that it was still vital to isolate when they were sick and not go to work or school or socialise which spread the virus, he said.
People should also continue to wear masks in medical facilities and in poorly ventilated indoor spaces, he said.
New Zealand had come through its fourth wave of infection for the Omicron variant, he said.
“We are going to see new subvariants or lineage of the virus arrive, they will be better at escaping from our immunity, our immunity will wane of course unless you get boosted.”
The government needed to look at how to reinforce those behaviours that prevented covid from spreading now that the mandates had been removed, he said.
“I mean this could be running media campaigns or developing codes of practice say with employers, Business New Zealand, I mean this is a chance for them really to show leadership about how they’re going to support the workforce in New Zealand, self-isolating when they are sick.”
Hospitilisations and mortality rates showed that covid-19 continued to have an impact and watching those rates would indicate whether the mandates had been removed too early, he said.
Integrated approach needed
New Zealand needed to develop a coherent, integrated approach to dealing with all respiratory infections which were the infectious diseases that had the biggest impact, he said.
“They have a big drain on our health resources and so we do need to look at better surveillance for these infections that will tell us what’s happening and also really it’s just having a culture of limiting transmission of these infections.”
That meant staying home when sick and using masks in indoor environments with poor ventilation, he said.
Auckland Council disability strategic advisory group chair Dr Huhana Hickey said getting rid of masks at health care centres was extremely dangerous for immunocompromised people.
“The problem for immune-compromised people is we’re frequent flyers, but we’re being asked to go into a situation that puts us all at risk of not just dealing with what’s making us sick but risking getting covid, which could kill us.”
Hickey said scrapping the seven-day compulsory isolation period could result in more workers returning while still infectious, which she believed would mean immunocompromised people were likely to stay home.
“If they cannot stay home and employers require them to work, they’re going to spread covid as well, so that means I don’t go to restaurants now because I don’t know if the waiter’s sick, I don’t know if the chef’s sick.”
Minimal impact of numbers
University of Auckland mathematics professor and covid-19 modeller Michael Plank expected the lack of mask and isolation requirements to have a minimal impact on case numbers.
He said the main drivers of infection were people who were asymptomatic cases or had not tested yet.
“I’m not sure than an isolation mandate is going to have a particularly large effect on infection rates in the long term.
“If we look at other countries that removed isolation mandates, like Australia, there’s really no evidence of a surge in numbers.”
Restaurant owners embraced the government’s decision.
The Restaurant Association surveyed more than 200 of its members, and 84 percent said they supported the idea.
But many planned to introduce their own requirements, chief executive Marisa Bidois said.
“Thirty nine percent of the respondents said they intended to mandate a five day isolation period for their employees,” she said.
“So that’s something they’re going to implement themselves as an internal policy.”
Many hospitality workers would also be expected to test themselves proactively.
“We also had 42 percent of respondents planning to require employees with any symptoms to undergo testing before returning to work.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
Laurie Harper, director of education for the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School, a K-12 tribal school on the Leech Lake Band Indian Reservation in north-central Minnesota, never thought that a class of chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, would be an issue for her community. That’s partly because, up until a few months ago, she didn’t even know what PFAS were. “We’re in the middle…
When COVID-19 broke out across the world in 2020, it produced widespread support for expanded public health measures, including “lockdowns,” that are estimated to have saved up to a million lives in the U.S. and millions more worldwide. As tragic as the pandemic has been, as many mistakes were made, we should be grateful to the health care workers, public health officials and vaccine researchers…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
A city’s infant mortality rate indicates the general health of a population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That is especially the case in Philadelphia, which has the highest infant mortality and poverty rates among the nation’s 10 most populous cities. In their first year, Black infants die at more than triple the rate of white babies.
Throughout the U.S. in 2020, the leading causes of infant mortality included low birth weight and preterm birth. A guaranteed basic income for expectant parents can address those problems and even result in improved early childhood development, studies have shown.
So Philadelphia is doing just that: offering expectant parents unrestricted cash payments to improve birth outcomes and reduce racial disparities.
Beginning in 2024, the Philly Joy Bank will provide 250 pregnant Philadelphians with $1,000 a month in no-strings-attached cash throughout their pregnancy and for one year postpartum. Expectant parents who earn less than $100,000 annually and live in one of the city’s three neighborhoods with the highest percentages of low birth weight — majority Black neighborhoods — will be eligible for the program run by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.
The Philly Joy Bank has received over $3.5 million in philanthropic funding from Spring Point Partners, the William Penn Foundation and the Barra Foundation. The program is also accepting donations. The city plans to fund an additional $750,000 in program administration.
Developed in partnership between the city’s Department of Public Health and the Philadelphia Community Action Network — a coalition focused on reducing infant mortality — the pilot program resulted from hours of conversations with local community members, as well as literature reviews of similar programs in Manitoba, Canada and San Francisco.
“We heard from Philadelphians not only that a program like this was sorely needed here, but that the amount of the monthly guaranteed income needed to be tied to a meaningful line item in a family’s monthly budget, such as housing or childcare,” said Stacey Kallem, Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s director of maternal, child, and family health division.
The $1,000 monthly benefit is based on the costs of local housing and childcare. Doula support, financial coaching and maternal and child home visits were also requested during community focus group sessions.
Guaranteed basic income experiments have increased in recent years as people search for solutions to growing income inequality that threatens wellbeing. Nearly 50 active guaranteed income programs exist throughout the U.S., according to Stanford Basic Income Lab, which conducts research and holds conversations on basic income. Those programs address a range of issues, including poverty and housing insecurity.
Data from more than 7,500 participants in basic income pilots throughout the nation show the greatest spending on retail sales and services at 40%, followed by food and groceries at 28%, according to Guaranteed Income Pilots Dashboard. Participants say the cash has allowed them to pay for medical bills, student loans, professional development, diapers and extra food on the table, among other expenses.
Critics of a general basic income argue that recipients will lose motivation to work. But years of research show that unrestricted cash helps people cover basic needs and can increase employment. A recent study on a basic income program in Stockton, California, revealed that $500 a month over 24 months resulted in improved mental health.
Philadelphia already tested the waters through several free cash programs in recent years, including a one-time $500 payment for formerly incarcerated people and a monthly payment averaging $890 to 300 low-income people on the public housing waitlist. Kallem said the Philly Joy Bank has full support from the city of Philadelphia.
A Black mother of two, Lydia Seymour, helped develop the pilot program by sharing her lived experience, facilitating workgroups and fundraising.
The Philadelphia Community Action Network introduced her to other moms who provided tips and resources while she was unemployed and pregnant with her second child in 2020. Eventually, the coalition paid her $25 an hour to share insight from her motherhood journey. The additional income covered some basic needs during her pregnancy, said Seymour, who now works as a coordinator for the coalition.
Adverse birth outcomes hit close to home for Seymour, since her daughter was born at an extremely low birth weight — 1 pound, 8 ounces — in 2017. If the guaranteed income program was around at that time, she said it would have made a significant difference for her first pregnancy.
“Across the board in any ethnic background or racial group, finances are seen as a stress and a source of need,” Seymour said. “So having an extra $1,000 during pregnancy would have helped to put food on the table.”
The Philly Joy Bank was also inspired by Manitoba’s Healthy Baby Prenatal Benefit program, which launched in 2001 to improve health outcomes during pregnancy. Recipients of the government-run program receive up to $81.41 (about $60 USD) a month throughout their second and third trimester, depending on their income. Additionally, expectant parents receive access to prenatal care and referrals to a support system where they can, among other things, learn about baby development, connect with other expectant parents, get breastfeeding support or ask questions about pregnancy. To be eligible for the program, expectant parents must have a household income under $32,000 and reside in Manitoba.
From 2001 to 2016, the Manitoba program provided over $27 million in total to around 63,000 women, according to the latest government report. In 2016, over 30% of the beneficiaries lived in First Nations communities.
The unrestricted cash had measurable impacts. Among those: reducing the risk of low birth weights by 21% and preterm births by 17.5%, 2016 research showed.
Study author Marni Brownell, a University of Manitoba professor in community health sciences and senior research scientist at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, evaluated the prenatal benefit for children born from 2003 through 2011 and followed them through kindergarten over several studies. In one paper, she found that the benefit led to increased vaccination, as well as improved cognitive and language development among First Nations children.
For jurisdictions that want to implement a similar program, Brownell recommends free prenatal care and efforts to reduce barriers to that service, including a lack of childcare and transportation, as well as distrust of the healthcare system.
In Philadelphia, the pilot program’s recruitment and enrollment process is still underway. The Department of Public Health anticipates holding community events and outreach in childcare centers and prenatal care sites. Philly Joy Bank will be considered for renewal if it improves financial security, as well as maternal and child health outcomes, said Kallem, adding that the city is currently selecting an external evaluator to measure the program’s impact.
In Brownell’s eyes, the research on Manitoba’s program provides a key message: “Women know best what they need to improve their prenatal health.”
The post How guaranteed basic income can reduce infant mortality appeared first on Center for Public Integrity.
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With the Tokyo Electric Power Company planning to begin a release of 1.3 million tonnes of treated wastewater from the former Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan next month, reports of radioactive fish in the area have raised alarm in recent years — and new reporting on Sunday revealed that the problem is far from mitigated, prompting questions about how dangerous the company’s plan...
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Forget “repeal and replace,” an oft-repeated Republican rallying cry against the Affordable Care Act. House Republicans have advanced a package of bills that could reduce health insurance costs for certain businesses and consumers, partly by rolling back some consumer protections. Rather than outright repeal, however, the subtler effort could allow more employers to bypass the landmark health...
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In the first year of abortion being nearly fully banned in Texas, infant mortality rose for the first time in seven years, nearly entirely undoing years of progress on infant mortality in a single year, new data shows. According to preliminary data obtained from the Texas Department of State Health Services by CNN, infant mortality increased by 11.5 percent in 2022 over the previous year. Overall...
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