A web blog discussing current health and public policy issues in the US and globally
In my home we always have an ongoing fight on the ideal temperature setting of our thermostat. After several ups and downs we have settled on 70˚F but every so often I come home and realize the house is feeling like an oven only to find the thermostat set at 80˚F. Even for a Ghanaian […]
For some reason the current political climate in the US is prone to driving issues into two extremes that rarely ever mirrors anybody’s genuine position. In the past few months many states in the US have come up with multiple laws which limit access to safe legal abortions for American women. Some of these laws […]
In the past decade several states have put laws in place to legalize marijuana use to various degrees. Whilst these changes are very much welcome federal laws at this time still classifies marijuana as an illegal substance and there are still many individuals doing jail time for various violations of marijuana statutes in both federal […]
A personal description of my on race and sexuality in the United States. In this essay the writer describes how societal acceptance of bias, prejudice and discrimination helps maintain these acts and beliefs. The writer calls for a more authentic and granular reaction to acts of bias and discrimination.
A post on the unique challenges of Healthcare in Rural America. In this post the author discusses the intersection of Rural hospital closures with a recognized rural. HIV epidemic. The impact of refusal of most Southern US states to expand Medicaid as part of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act on these two issues is discussed with possible alternate solutions.
In a recent news article I read about disputes in the city of San Francisco over the location of a shelter for the homeless. As a physician who started his career in the United States working for Healthcare for the Homeless in Baltimore, Maryland this issue is not alien to me. Whilst services for the […]
In this thought provoking post a women’s advocate talks about the challenges and realities of working with female victims of domestic abuse. The writer discusses the difficulties associated with addressing this problem in low & middle income nations like Ghana versus developed world settings.
Growing up in Ghana I always knew Coca Cola was a Ghanaian Company and would have continued to believe that until Coca Cola refused to honor economic sanctions on the Apartheid South African government. The big Beverage Company continued business in South African amid protests in Africa and pressure from Black Activist in the US. […]
As a student in School of Public Health I learned one basic fact of life; new ideas in most fields including medicine usually benefit the most advantaged in society the most. This lesson will follow me when I started practicing medicine as a physician in Baltimore City. In the clinics and the wards in which […]
This post discusses the myth and reality of the link between blood pressure treatment and increased risk of impotence and erectile dysfunction in men. The writer tries to compare and contrast the really small infinitesimal risk of sexual dysfunction occurring secondary to blood pressure treatment to the really significant risks of death, heart failure, stroke, etc that could result from uncontrolled hypertension.
If you have an opinion in America you definitely have a label. I have been accused by both black and white patients of being racist. So I guess I am “biracist”. I also believe in limited government so I am against any government interference in what two consenting adults should do, I am pro-choice and […]
A post on the xenophobic attitudes in Western societies today with a focus on the most recent New Zealand mosque attacks. The ray of hope offered by the New Zealand leadership and people was used in this feature as well as the reference to Donald Trump as a symbol of hope for a common purpose of whites.
In 2002 a University of Colorado Psychology Professor Joshua Correll undertook a study using a first person shooter video game to study police officer decision making with regards to the use of deadly force. In this game police officers were exposed to different individuals holding weapons and innocuous items. The object of this game was […]
Right after the elections of Barack Obama, the first Black president of the United States, I heard lots of people including some TV analysts declare that America has entered a “post-racial” era where one’s skin colour did not determine his destiny! With my usual shithole sceptism; I could not help but wonder how such declarations […]
It is not the drug addicts fault that he or she needs to get a fix to just feel normal. Nor is it the fault of a young man that he has gonorrhea. And then what about that guy who gets shot in the belly over a drug deal gone bad. In an ideal world […]
Its been 400 years since the first slaves landed in Virginia. Something terrible was born with that first shipload. The consequences of the most inhumane economic policy ever practiced on this earth still persist today. Whole societies were disrupted and families were torn apart without any regard for the feelings and hopes of those involved. […]
I look at my life currently and proclaim that truly, America is the greatest country on Earth! I firmly believe my story is only possible in the United States of America! I also give due recognition that I work hard for what I am now. I live in an upper middle class neighbourhood. I am […]
In today’s America where white nationalist match in the streets with tiki torches and scream “Jews will not replace us”, immigrant Americans like myself who happen to be non-white can sometimes wonder if we made the right choice. More and more it appears America is still struggling with its identity as the multi-cultural global melting […]
Over the years human history and science had taught us the gospel of the pre-eminence of man and our dominance over all earthly lifeforms. Current learning based on the complexity of human DNA however revealed some surprises. One such surprise was the relative simplicity of the human genome when compared to the complexity of the […]
In turbulent times like this, I am reminded of Shithole folklore in which the frog laments why it has to suffer whenever the lizard eats pepper! This is how the lizard’s song goes; “I don’t want any troubles, and so I mind my own business, so why should my ass burn and my eyes weep when […]