A health and public policy blog
There are certain lessons in life that are difficult to forget. Unfortunately, some of these lessons are very costly, and in the medical field the costs is usually counted in human lives. I still remRead More…
When it comes to infectious diseases national boundaries have never been a useful means of control. This is one very important reason why the World Health Organization (WHO) is so important. There isRead More…
Anytime I hear any debate on the HPV vaccine Gardasil, I remember a fact that most of us tend to forget. This simple piece of common sense was brought to my attention by a classmate in a class Read More…
In the last 2 decades most new jail and prison developments in the US a country with one of the highest prison populations in the world are in rural and suburban districts. Data reported by the LondonRead More…
When I saw the CT scan my heart sank. The beautiful symmetry that the brain has, the different shades that white and grey matter imprint on the LCD screen were gone. The lines that divide the electricRead More…
This summer, on August 19th 2019 the Planned Parenthood Federation of America made a decision to withdraw from Title X funding. This program which is older than most of us was enacted by President RicRead More…
Last weekend, we had two mass shootings with a total death toll of 29. One of these shootings was in El Paso and is being judged a hate crime based on a manifesto posted by the shooter about 20 minuteRead More…
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 governmeRead More…
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 Read More…
These are the words of an anthropologist friend of mine – who has been traveling from Honduras with the caravan – regarding events at the Souther border over the weekend. No media news spin here: “TodRead More…
In a prior post earlier in the year I wrote on this topic. A closer look at the current global situation suggests that whilst the cost of Hepatitis C (HCV) treatment may appear to be a major barrier Read More…
In the past few weeks there has been a lot of interest on the breast as different organizations advance various initiatives to help reduce risk of Breast Cancer in Ghana. These activities attracted aRead More…
I believe some issues are definitely first world problems. Women’s reproductive rights, unfortunately falls into that category. I have been amused at how abortion rights has so paralysed this nation Read More…
Over the past two decades the United States has experienced an uncontrollable epidemic of drug related deaths. In 2016 sixty-three thousand Americans died of drug overdoses, two out of three of these Read More…
A recent WHO ranking of health systems puts the US at number 37 between Costa Rica and Slovenia. This is more surprising since US heath expenditure per capita is twice that of the number one country Read More…
For me my most favorite place in this world is my home, this does not hold true for my son though; he loves hotels. A few days ago I got the shock of my life. My whole world was turned upside down. ARead More…
In a prior post I had dreamed of claiming my gun which I rightfully acquired as a citizen of this great nation. Unfortunately life always just appears to get in the way of the greatest ideas and like Read More…
In the US most patients who require PrEP (HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) get coverage for Truvada by their insurance companies. Patients with medicaid coverage have copays ranging from $3 – 25, howeverRead More…
It has become abundantly clear to me that black people in America belong to a different subspecies of Homo sapiens! I have grouped them into a subspecies Homo sapiens blackus, and in my case Sub SubspRead More…
I rarely have dreams! And on the rare occasions that I have dreamt, I barely remember the contents of my dream! I guess I am not prone to hypnopompic and hypnagogic hallucinations! If I were the MartiRead More…
Before I came to America I was made to believe that America was this “melting pot” of people from all over the world. A huge successful experiment where people from all walks of life and continentRead More…
Broad street in Philadelphia is this wide swathe of black, running through the middle of the city. A black big motoring vein with asphalt tributaries emptying cars, and people, milling restlessly withRead More…
After more than 2 centuries of slavery progress towards equity and equality has always been challenging for African Americans, progress always seems to be followed by significant periods or retrogressRead More…
Hepatitis C is a global disease with an estimated prevalence rate of about 2.8% worldwide. There are however significant variations in the prevalence rate by country with most low and middle income coRead More…
Gun violence in the USA and road traffic accidents in Ghana share one thing in common both countries have decided to leave their respective problems in the hand of God. In the past 2 weeks I have beRead More…