A health and public policy blog
Many countries have seen their peak in cases of SARS-CoV-2 in the rear view mirror. Unfortunately the United States is still forging ahead in this epidemic. I wrote a previous post about preparing fRead More…
As a boy I always had a fascination with cultures other than my own. This was a curiosity that sought to understand what these cultures believed and how these beliefs had developed. I remember my graRead More…
I have realised that anytime BLM and protesters react to police brutality, detractors always point to various “whataboutisms”. Many would ask “what about black on black crime.?” “What aboutRead More…
As a physician I have taken care of many recently incarcerated persons. Most of these guys were not armed robbers or even drug offenders as the media may suggest. These were almost all black or brownRead More…
‘Teach us good Lord to number our days that we will apply our hearts to wisdom’ Psalm 90:1-2 For many of us our journey with Alex started in October 1991. This was for us, the beginning of an Read More…
Growing up on the coast meant that I always wondered about the sea. Driving by the beach and seeing the waves beating on the shores was always a joy to behold. Up to today watching and listening to tRead More…
There have been more than enough innocent black people’s lives lost at the hands of the US police force. The numbers are so overwhelming I would not try to give you a quantity lest I be called out Read More…
On January 1st 1863 approaching the third year of the Civil War President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation declared “that all persons held as slaves” within the Read More…
“…….. He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. And when they heard it they began to go out one by oneRead More…
In a recent conversation with an old friend I realized they had medical issues which drove our conversation towards a totally different path. Well this very nice conversation had me going all the wayRead More…
“I AM OUTRAGED! I CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT MY EYES HAVE SEEN THIS EVENING.” – Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington Mariann Edgar Budde’s response to the President’s actions: “The PresidenRead More…
I am done crying and feeling lost and worthless. I am done cursing God, life and the day the first European set foot in West Africa. I am done wondering “Why?”Now back to what I do best. What for me Read More…
In 1960 in response to police brutality, the Black Panther Party embarked on a program called “Copwatching” in which they patrolled the streets of Oakland lawfully carrying loaded firearms to patRead More…
For many years the city of New York congratulated Mayors, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg for making them safer. Their success was attributed to a policing practice that was later described as raRead More…
As I watched the biopic of one of the Greatest American Generals ever, U. S Grant and his role in winning The Civil War and keeping the Union together, I could not help but wonder at the number of NoRead More…
One of the vaccine candidates for COVID-19 at the Phase I stage is the non-replicating adenovirus type-5 (Ad5) vectored COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology (Beijing, Read More…
As a surgeon who has been working in the US healthcare system for the last twenty years. I never imagined I would ever see what has transpired in the first quarter of the year 2020. Never in my wildeRead More…
In the past few days, the internet has been abuzz with the story of a nurse in a hospital in Tula, Russia. She showed up for her shift in the all-male COVID-19 patient ward with no clothing save for Read More…
For many years I have lamented the lack of trained health workers in Ghana to treat precancerous lesions of the cervix. A handful of gynecologists in Ghana are equipped with the skill to treat precanRead More…
Since COVID-19 broke out, the data has shown relatively fewer children getting infected or severely ill. 2% of cases described in patients under age 20 (Wu et al. JAMA. 2020). The pediatric deaths frRead More…
Racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare has always been a feature of the American health system. This is an issue that all minorities in the healthcare field address in their own way. Some get emRead More…
Dr. Anthony Fauci said this, “Anything could, but I must say that the degree of efficiency of transmissibility of this virus is really unprecedented in anything that I’ve seen. It’s an extraordinRead More…
Lock down ends. The streets are already beginning to fill again. There is a new item of color on the landscape of faces now: masks. I am learning to recognize people by the pattern on the masks they Read More…
Unlike initially thought, the lungs are not the only victims of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. By combing through the myriad reports out there, it is getting evident that this virus can attack other organ sysRead More…
In the early 1990s, HIV spread like wildfire in the Chinese provinces of Henan, Hebei, Anhui, Shaanxi, and Shanxi. Between 200,000 and 300,000 were infected because of the trade in blood and blood prRead More…