6
POPSCanada exports asbestos...WTH? "Canada is the only developed nation still producing asbestos, called a deadly threat by the International Labour Organization, the World Health Organization, the International Association for Cancer Research and many more health agencies."
11
POPSDoctors without borders Also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres they take health care where it is needed, anywhere in the world. Politics is not an issue. They provide medical care, and health services to people who are victims of war, starvation and disease, who otherwise would have had no hope.
9
POPSCNN Makes Paris More Important than Health Care CNN, in my opinion, is no longer to be considered a reputable source of important and relevant news. Although I realize Michael Moore is publicizing his new film SICKO, which is of course, self-serving, the film is about an issue of great importance and relevance to the entire country. To bump this discussion of such a critical matter in favour of an interview with Paris Hilton who is relevant to nothing of importance in the overall serious issues confronting our country is an insult to what the news media is supposed to be all about.
14
POPSThe Bushies Pre-emptively attack Michael Moore
Once again the Bushies have decided to preemptively attack Michael Moore over his new documentary, SICKO. This is a film about the lack of adequate health care in the richest country in the world; the United States of America. Understand, that there are certain things Michael Moore does and says that do not meet with my applause, but when he is right he is right. The U.S. should be embarrassed by its lack of health care for every citizen of the country, no matter what their financial situation. Health care is not a privilege, it is a right. This is especially true in a country as vastly wealthy as the U.S. It is criminal for tens of millions of people to be out of the loop for proper medical care. The Bushies and the conservative Republicans will say or do anything to scare the citizenry away from national health care. But just ask the people of Canada what they think of their system, even with the problems it faces. It is not perfect. But no one is left uncared for.
2
POPSCore Health Indicators from WHO It is extremely enlightening to compare and contrast the core health indicators of different countries, including literacy;school enrollment; income; and telephone (fixed & mobile), computers and Internet use and availability.
2
POPSNew Interactive Television to Help Patients and Elderly In addition to monitoring patients' vital signs, an "interactive dosifier" feature creates reminders that pop up on the television so that people don't forget to take their medication. Patients can send messages to their doctor via the TV set also. Another innovative way to help elderly people remain in their homes instead of uprooting them and warehousing them in nursing homes and retirement centers. This gives me hope. I had planned to be set adrift on an ice floe when the time came that I could no longer live at home, but with global warming that plan may have to be scrapped. Perhaps this telemedicine will be a viable alternative.
5
POPSHealthline: search for health I find this site handy for researching health-related subjects: symptoms, tests, drugs, diseases and conditions, first aid, alternative medicine, etc.
2
POPSChina's population to increase by 200 million in 30 years " According to the plan set out in the report, county and town-level agencies in rural areas should improve their services to better implement family planning policies. Families with one child will be rewarded by the government, and the endowment insurance system in rural areas should be strengthened to improve care for the elderly. The report also calls for improvements to the nine-year compulsory education system, the control of HIV/AIDS and public health services."
1
POPSSurprising Secret to a Long Life: Stay in School An interesting read. I'm not sure if the key factor is school itself. IMO it is education, whether via traditional school or through self-teaching, that makes all the difference in life. Being taught to think is what is important.
6
POPSBurkina Faso gov't closing arsenic poisoned wells :-( Those of us who have good drinking water take it for granted, while others have to choose between dying of thirst or arsenic poisoning. Sand filtration, if it works as well as Zougouri claims, sounds like a good alternative to closing the wells...a stop gap measure until new wells or technologies can be developed.
9
POPSWhen Men Were Turned Into Sex Machines...
"In the same programme there was also a urologist from Mikkeli, who was admirably honest in describing how impotence drugs are prescribed. He says that his youngest patients have been 16 and 17 years old...nothing wrong with the boys, but lack of experience and uncertainty might cause temporary inability to perform. The doctor says that prescribing the medicine for a young person was acceptable, because with its help, the boys were able to get their sex lives going without having to worry about confronting an embarrassing situation. that the medicine could be dropped later, when confidence with the partner had reached the stage at which performance pressure would not be a problem. There it is, the core of what is now accepted as a sex life. Men need to be capable, and durable. Who cares if there is any emotion involved, to say nothing of trust and a sense of partnership. Thereās plenty of time for that later, once the technical performance is made flawle
1
POPS A Breath of Fresh Air...By Whose Standards? "In February 2001, in a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court upheld the authority of EPA to set air quality standards and rejected industry arguments that cost rather than health be the basis for the standards. A follow-up decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals in March 2002 affirmed the standards. The American Lung AssociationĀ® was an intervenor in support of the air quality standards. EPA is now engaged in the next five-year review of the health standards for particulate matter and ozone. www.lungusa.org/cleanairstandards provides people concerned about air quality and their health with the tools they need to be effective participants in the review process."
8
POPSSoviet Era Posters A fascinating (to me) peek into the Soviet world, via posters. History for sure, but not so very long ago
1
POPSJapan Plans Long-Term Study of Test-Tube Babies' Health "Yoshitada Yamauchi, a board member of the Japan Society for Premature and Newborn Medicine who is also the chief of Okayama Medical Center's clinical research department, said that of the children who have to receive intensive treatment at the intensive care unit for newborns, the number of test-tube babies seems to be increasing every year. "However, there has been no long-term tracking of their health. We need to shed light on their situation," he said. (Nov. 21, 2006)"
7
POPSFederal abortion ban endangers women's health Editorial by Cassing Hammond, an ob-gyn at the Northwestern University School of Medicine. Some of my patients, after finally becoming pregnant, learn that they need an organ transplant or that they are suffering from heart disease so severe that continuing the pregnancy would not only jeopardize their current health but might worsen the underlying heart condition. Others have had brain tumors, ruptured brain aneurysms, strokes and many different types of cancer. These patients terminate their pregnancies to avoid risk to their health and to begin lifesaving therapy for themselves, often in hopes of one day becoming healthy enough to have a baby under safer circumstances. If the Supreme Court allows the federal abortion ban to go into effect, it will jeopardize my ability to provide the safest health care to women confronting these severely troubled pregnancies. Via Bush vs. Choice