Category Archive: Global Health

Apr 16

“Healthy” Menus Are Not Helping The Obesity Epidemic

Do you ever order from the “healthy” menu of fast food restaurants? Maybe you thought ordering that wrap instead of the burger was a healthy choice. Well, what I’m about to tell you might disappoint you a little. But first, some facts. The American Heart Association reports that 80 percent of U.S. teens have diets …

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Apr 01

Health Is A Right. Health Equity Is Our Goal

The other day I went to see a speaker on my college campus. Her name was Renata Schiavo and she is the founder and president of the Health Equity Initiative, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to building community, capacity and communication resources for health equity. Staying true to her mission of spreading awareness, she …

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Mar 26

Vaccines, Herd Immunity and Social Responsibility

Having shadowed a good number of doctors in my past I’ve had the opportunity of being familiar with a lot of the difficulties they face with patients. One such difficulty is trying to get parents to vaccinate themselves and their children. There have been several occasions in which a doctor has expressed to me his …

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Mar 04

Silver Linings and Stigma

Movies always have a way of offering an escape from reality; a chance to jump into the fantasies of another world or adventure. This year’s oscar nominees for best picture were full of daring heroes, magical creatures, and 19th century settings. One of these nominees stood out, however, for a very different reason; it was …

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Feb 25

Why We Don’t Need Industrial Agriculture to Feed the World

How many times have you heard someone say something like, “the world’s population is growing and we need to dramatically increase our food production”? And then, heard someone talking about how more pesticides, fertilizer and genetic engineering is going to help us do it. While the intentions of these people may seem good, these proposed …

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Feb 22

Breastfeeding in Developing Countries

Almost 6.9 million children under five died around the world in 2011. Did you also know that almost 830,000 deaths could be avoided if every baby was breastfed within the first hour of life? As soon as the infant is born, the mother produces a special milk called colostrum. Colostrum is known to be the …

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Feb 15

Why Contraception Should Not Be Controversial

Last week I wrote about the importance of talking about abortion so that society can move beyond the labels of pro-choice and pro-life and learn more about the woman’s situation. I mentioned that if people truly wanted to decrease the amount of abortions (which I’m sure we all do) then we had to understand why …

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Feb 15

Mozambique under water…Again!

In late January disaster struck Mozambique. The Limpopo River which arcs across 4 countries burst its banks. Around 140 000 people woke up to severe flooding, and in an instant they had lost everything. The death toll currently stands at 105, with 250 000 people directly affected. UNICEF Mozambique estimates that $30 million is still …

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Feb 08

The Global Tobacco Epidemic

Did you know that at least one billion people are expected to die from tobacco use in the 21st century? We all know the horrible consequences of using any type of tobacco. Tobacco can increase a person’s risk for various types of cancer, respiratory diseases, and cardiovascular diseases. Despite all the risks, tobacco is not …

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Feb 04

Moving Beyond the Labels of Pro-Life and Pro-Choice

A few weeks back Planned Parenthood made the announcement that they will be abandoning the labels of “Pro-Life” and “Pro-Choice” in hopes of reaching more women who do not identify as “pro-choice” but still support and need their services. A study found that 35% of voters who identified as pro-life also said they didn’t think …

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