A million child deaths around the world can be prevented. It would take a big mobilization of health care workers and small packets of nutritional food. A doctor examines a child for malnutrition by measuring the mid-upper-arm-circumference. Credit: Mohammad Bash...
A new study shows that rates of anemia have started to decline. But not for everyone, everywhere. Experts say we need to look at underlying causes. Illustration by News Decoder of a human body and red blood cells. One in every four people in the world suffer from...
In a Decoder Dialogue webinar, News Decoder gathered five teens from three continents to share their thoughts and experiences around mental health. The Decoder Dialogue on Mental Health featured Marcy Burstiner, Maria Krasinski, Kingsley Onydikachi Aaron-Onuigbo,...
Most nations have rolled back steps to contain COVID-19. But the virus continues to kill. Many experts are frustrated governments are not doing more. Immunization, conceptual illustration (Photo by: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via AP Images) Airlines have stopped requiring...
COVID fatigue is worldwide even though the virus continues to spread. In many places, restrictions have been lifted for masks, travel and testing. Vaccination targets remain largely out of reach. Since the onset of the pandemic, health experts and governments have been at odds about the best approach to beat the virus. Our inability to curb the spread of the virus begs broader questions, including whether we are up to the task of combating climate warming. How could we have better balanced health and the economy, collective responsibility and individual rights to overcome COVID sooner?
Exercise: Ask students to debate the role of government versus individual responsibility in combating global crises such as COVID and climate change.
COVID-19 could have brought out the best in humanity. Instead, public health programs have fallen short, exposing us to a resurgence of diseases. A baby is vaccinated against malaria in Malawi. (WHO/Mark Nieuwenhof) COVID-19 has shut down vaccination programs around...
Headlines about COVID-19 understandably tend to focus on the current state of affairs — cases, hospitalizations, deaths, new variants, vaccines. It takes the kind of expertise that Maggie Fox has earned in years of writing about science and health to look beyond today to see what the pandemic means for tomorrow. Citing the latest research, Fox explores how public health services are failing to cope with myriad illnesses that don’t stop in their tracks just because there’s a pandemic. The outlook is not bright.
Exercise: Ask your students to speak to a local epidemiologist to learn how COVID-19 is affecting public health services nearby and the impact the pandemic is having on the fight against other illnesses.