Healthcare

  Katya* was on her fifth pregnancy and still without a child. When I met her this summer on the Maternal Fetal Medicine service, she had experienced three miscarriages and terminated one pregnancy. She is a carrier of a genetic mutation that prevents her pregnancies from surviving both inside and outside of the womb. Advances […]

For over a century, the Statue of Liberty stood as a powerful symbol of the United States’ promise to welcome immigrants to a new land of safety and opportunity. However, a recent Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposal to expand the definition of the “public charge” rule threatens to tarnish that legacy. The proposed changes […]

“Where I live, people don’t call the police.” There’s a palpable stillness in the room. Thirty-five pairs of adolescent eyes are fixed on Mariely[1] as she quietly, bravely describes witnessing a man get stabbed in front of her house, feeling unable to call the cops for help. Some students silently gesture with their pinkies outstretched […]

Introduction In late December 2012, the American Psychiatric Association published the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the authoritative document for diagnosing mental health in the United States. It contained a dramatic shift in language, decades in the making: the term “gender identity disorder” was replaced with “gender dysphoria” […]

Desiree,[1] 40-year-old mother of two children, wanted to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. As she had health insurance through Medicaid, it did not cover abortion, and the full cost of the procedure was more than she could afford. Kim, a pregnant mother of two, was arrested and needed $2,500 to post bail, which is prohibitively expensive. […]

Last April, cyclone Idai killed over a thousand people and displaced over three million across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Of those affected, approximately 650,000 people were particularly at risk – because they have periods. Menstrual hygiene is an urgent public health and policy issue that is frequently overlooked during humanitarian relief operations. It is time […]

JMEPP staff writer Lynn Ezzeddine interviewed Dr. Brigitte Khoury, the first psychologist in Lebanon’s most reputable hospital, American University of Beirut Medical Center, and the current president-elect for the international division of the American Psychologist Association. The following discussion covers mental health in the Middle East: stigma, needs, access, and barriers to care. We look […]

BY RYAN CARTERS When my wife’s grandmother and aunt died from breast cancer, no one knew it was linked to a hereditary BRCA2 gene mutation. My wife was luckier. She found out in her twenties, and opted for a double mastectomy to reduce her risks. The next generation may have less cause to worry; it […]

BY WILL LINDSEY The opioid epidemic will likely go down as one of the largest public health crises of our lifetime. While opioids don’t command daily headlines, the crisis still kills approximately 72,000 in the United States a year, surpassing annual automobile deaths. In my home state of North Carolina, the Center for Disease Control […]

BY STEPHANIE NGUYEN AND MAGGIE SALINGER David [1] used to sell drugs on a street corner in East Baltimore. His curbside business had offered a glimpse into the life of his customers as they waded in and out of withdrawal. Their oscillation between temporary satisfaction and full-blown suffering didn’t seem worth it to David. But then, […]

Physical inactivity is one of the biggest challenges stemming from our modern, sedentary lifestyles. Jerald Lim describes why and how Singapore should double-down on supporting bike-sharing with pro-biking policies, and discusses the public health and environmental benefits it can reap as a society.

BY GRIFFIN SMITH The world in 2100 will look and feel like a different place than the one we know today. The global population is projected to rise by three billion people—the population of more than two new Chinas. At the same time, extreme global weather events, precipitation variability, and mean temperatures will also increase. […]