Tag: ending

In Health Care Addressing Racism Against Black Women Is Key To Ending The US HIV Epidemic
HEALTH & WELLNESS

In Health Care Addressing Racism Against Black Women Is Key To Ending The US HIV Epidemic

Forty years into the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Black women continue to bear the highest burden of HIV among women. Although Black women represent only 13% of the female population, they accounted for over half of HIV diagnoses among all females in the U.S. in 2018, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. White women, who are 62% of the female population, accounted for 21% of HIV diagnoses. Black women are also less likely than white women to receive the antiretroviral therapies that are highly effective at preventing HIV infection and are more likely to die of causes related to HIV. This year’s World AIDS Day theme included ending inequalities in HIV and AIDS care. But in order to address the inequities, it will require examining the root causes of them. In ...
Another Blow To Black And Latino Students – Ending Testing For New York City’s Gifted Program
EDUCATION, Journalism

Another Blow To Black And Latino Students – Ending Testing For New York City’s Gifted Program

After years of relying on a single controversial test at age 4 for admission to their gifted programs, New York City schools are about to embark upon a new way to identify gifted students. The city’s Department of Education announced in February that it would stop testing students for its gifted program, which places top students in schools with curriculum designed for high academic achievement. Instead, preschool teachers will refer students for consideration. The city’s new schools chancellor, Meisha Porter, who was named to that post March 15, has said that overhauling the gifted and talented system is one of her top priorities. That means the new system likely won’t be long-term, though there’s still reason to be concerned. Research has shown that teacher referrals tend to lead to fe...
Persuading People To Get Vaccinated Will Be The Next Major Hurdle To Ending The Pandemic
COVID-19

Persuading People To Get Vaccinated Will Be The Next Major Hurdle To Ending The Pandemic

Today, more Americans hope to receive a COVID-19 vaccine than current vaccine supply will allow. Consequently, although President Joe Biden’s initial promise to dole out 100 million vaccine doses in 100 days would require a ramp-up in vaccine allocation, some consider the promise to be insufficient to meet current levels of demand and put the pandemic’s spread into decline. The current mismatch between vaccine demand and supply, however, may be short-lived. Despite concerns about lagging vaccine allocation for front-line health care workers and other vulnerable groups, health experts are optimistic that public demand for a COVID-19 vaccine will remain high in coming months as more vaccine doses become available. While it is clear that many political leaders expect public demand for a cor...
Likely Key To Ending Pandemic Will Be Hard, Keeping Coronavirus Vaccines At Subzero Temperatures During Distribution
HEALTH & WELLNESS

Likely Key To Ending Pandemic Will Be Hard, Keeping Coronavirus Vaccines At Subzero Temperatures During Distribution

Just like a fresh piece of fish, vaccines are highly perishable products and must be kept at very cold, specific temperatures. The majority of COVID-19 vaccines under development – like the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines – are new RNA-based vaccines. If they get too warm or too cold they spoil. And, just like fish, a spoiled vaccine must be thrown away. So how do companies and public health agencies get vaccines to the people who need them? The answer is something called the vaccine cold chain – a supply chain that can keep vaccines in tightly controlled temperatures from the moment they are made to the moment that they are administered to a person. Ultimately, hundreds of millions of people in the U.S. and billions globally are going to need a coronavirus vaccine – and potentially two dos...
‘Morality pills’ may be the US’s best shot at ending the coronavirus pandemic, according to one ethicist
IN OTHER NEWS

‘Morality pills’ may be the US’s best shot at ending the coronavirus pandemic, according to one ethicist

COVID-19 is a collective risk. It threatens everyone, and we all must cooperate to lower the chance that the coronavirus harms any one individual. Among other things, that means keeping safe social distances and wearing masks. But many people choose not to do these things, making spread of infection more likely. When someone chooses not to follow public health guidelines around the coronavirus, they’re defecting from the public good. It’s the moral equivalent of the tragedy of the commons: If everyone shares the same pasture for their individual flocks, some people are going to graze their animals longer, or let them eat more than their fair share, ruining the commons in the process. Selfish and self-defeating behavior undermines the pursuit of something from which everyone can benefit. ...
Ending the pandemic will take global access to COVID-19 treatment and vaccines – which means putting ethics before profits
COVID-19

Ending the pandemic will take global access to COVID-19 treatment and vaccines – which means putting ethics before profits

As COVID-19 surges in the United States and worldwide, even the richest and best insured Americans understand, possibly for the first time, what it’s like not to have the medicines they need to survive if they get sick. There is no coronavirus vaccine, and the best known treatment, remdesivir, only reduces hospital recovery time by 30% and only for patients with certain forms of the disease. Poorer people have always had trouble accessing essential medicines, however – even when good drugs exist to prevent and treat their conditions. In the U.S., where there is no legal right to health, insurance is usually necessary for medical treatment. Remedesivir costs about US$3,200 for a typical treatment course of six vials, though critics argue its manufacturer, Gilead, could make a profit off m...
Ending Domestic Violence Requires Working With Those Who Harm, Too
LIFESTYLE

Ending Domestic Violence Requires Working With Those Who Harm, Too

The Alliance for Boys and Men of Color’s Healing Together Campaign aims to end intimate partner violence by advocating for policy changes—and seeking healing for both survivors and the people who harm them. Prompted by experiencing domestic violence in her own family, Jacquie Marroquin started working in the violence against women movement in California in 2001. In doing so, she recognized an irony. Marroquin knew all of the support systems available for victims of domestic violence and how to best use them, and yet she knew her own family would never take advantage of those services. They didn’t want law enforcement involved. Their situation isn’t uncommon. In Marroquin’s work as the director of programs for the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, she sees ...