A health and public policy blog
Over the years the United States has been a country known for racially motivated violence. This issue has moved into the forefront of the political discourse in the past few years. In 2020 George FloRead More…
The Covid-19 pandemic has taken the US through a wringer. Many believe without a vaccine the US would not achieve pandemic control. This is surprising for a nation with world renowned public health iRead 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…
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…
I deem it a great privilege to have the opportunity to express my opinion on the boarding system of education. Though the boarding system has its own demerits, its advantages convince me to opt for itRead More…
Of the 355 Tuskegee Airmen who served as single-engine combat pilots during WW II, only 12 were alive as of the end of May this year.
One of them is Lt. Col. Harry Stewart. He flew 43 combat missions Read More…
As a child growing up in Ghana, this saying was burned into my brain “bεεma nsu” a Twi phrase which means ‘real men don’t cry’. That was the ethos and the ideology of life that I grew up with. One Read More…
I have been in Kigali the last three days, in the presence of leaders and influencers that only the Eisenhower Fellows can pull together. It has been an insightful 3 days in a city that has shown thatRead More…
In my home we always have an ongoing fight on the ideal temperature setting for our thermostat. After several ups and downs we have settled on 70˚F but every so often I come home and realize the housRead More…
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 hRead More…
In a previous post I wrote about my evolving experience with the LGBTQ community. Whilst being a black man from Africa did help me understand what it may feel like to be gay or queer, it was also a grRead More…
An analysis of CMS (Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services) data by Navigant suggests that about 20% of US rural hospitals are at risk of closure, this data does not consider all the hospitals thRead More…
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 HeaRead More…
A lot of women in abusive situations are shocked at the answer I give them when they call me to ask what to do about their situation.
I simply tell them “ it’s your decision to make”, but what IRead More…
Doc, is this medication going to make me have problems with erection? I have heard this question so often from men concerned about getting on blood pressure medications that I have learned to respect Read More…
In 2002 a University of Colorado psychology Professor Joshua Correll undertook a study using a first person shooter video game. This was to study police officer decision making with regards to the usRead More…
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 whRead More…
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 sRead More…
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 tRead More…
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 wondeRead More…
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 waRead More…
Over the past decade the availability of commercial gene sequencing technics that provide information on the approximate geographic sources of our genes have increased significantly. These products aRead More…
Over the years widespread application of vaccines globally has led to significant reductions in the incidence of many vaccine preventable communicable diseases. One disease smallpox has been completeRead 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…
I usually buy gas at Costco, and have established some rapport with most of the attendants at the gas pumps. There is this elderly gentleman I always chat with! He is retired and does this not for thRead More…