Tag: Public health
Destigmatizing Drug Use Has Been a Profound Mistake
The image on the billboard that appeared in downtown San Francisco in early 2020 would have been familiar to anyone who’d ever seen a beer commercial: Attractive young people laughing and smiling as they shared a carefree high. But the intoxicant being celebrated was fentanyl, not beer. “Do it with friends,” the billboard advised, so as to reduce the risks of overdose.
The advertising campaign was part of an ongoing national effort by activists and health officials to destigmatize
The Class War at West Virginia University
Three years ago, President E. Gordon Gee of West Virginia University had a terrific idea—a career capper. As he neared retirement, he would embrace the “academic transformation” of public higher education and streamline his university.
For too long, as Gee told anyone who would listen, public universities had tried to be everything to everyone and keep up with elite private colleges. When the coronavirus pandemic shut down American universities in 2020, Gee embraced its disruptions as a gift—a “black swan
What London’s mayor learned when he took on the cars – POLITICO
It looked like group therapy. One late summer day, Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, sat with a group of faith leaders and clean-air campaigners in a small circle in the near-empty hall of a suburban church.
The moment was meant to be one of celebration, for Khan and for London. He was marking the creation of the largest clean air zone in the Western world through the expansion of restrictions on polluting cars to cover the entire British capital,
A global call for policy action – POLITICO
*Speak Up for COPD is supported by a coalition of partners across industry and the non-profit sector to raise awareness and understanding of COPD amongst policymakers and healthcare decision makers by amplifying the voices of patients, the COPD community and the public. All partners contribute time and expertise to the coalition actitivies. Our one critical goal is to establish COPD as a public health priority.
Coalition partners: Global Allergy & Airways Patient Platform (GAAPP), International Federation of Ageing (IFA),
5 real-life impacts of the EU’s foot-dragging on chemicals law reboot – POLITICO
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For months, European lawmakers, NGOs and scientists have been calling on Brussels to set out a long-awaited revamp of the bloc’s chemicals rules before the summer break.
But as the corridors of the EU institutions empty out and policymakers head off on vacation, those hopes are being dashed.
With next year’s European election looming, many now worry the proposal will come too late to be scrutinized and signed off
Why London’s mayor just can’t scrap his clean air plan – POLITICO
LONDON — Sadiq Khan is under pressure to ditch a controversial plan to clean up London’s air after a bruising by-election for the mayor’s Labour colleagues. But scrapping the plan is no panacea — and critics will have to explain what replaces it.
London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) aims to reduce the U.K. capital’s emissions of nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen oxide (referred to together as NOx) by imposing a charge on polluting vehicles when they enter the zone. It’s
London’s Sadiq Khan moves to soften emissions scheme impact after backlash – POLITICO
LONDON — Mayor of London Sadiq Khan moved to soften the impact of a city-wide emissions reduction scheme after a voter backlash saw the Labour Party fail to make a gain at a crucial by-election.
The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) — which costs drivers of polluting vehicles £12.50 a day to enter — is set to expand to cover the whole of London from 29 August in a bid to tackle the city’s air pollution problem.
Khan, Labour’s London
understanding the condition – POLITICO
Every breath we take is a gift, yet for hundreds of millions across the globe, breathing comes with a challenge – chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).1,2 Never heard of it? You’re not alone. A recent Ipsos poll* shows that for most people, the disease is a mystery, and despite its dire consequences, COPD remains an often under-recognized and under-prioritized non-communicable disease (NCD).3,4
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an increasingly important threat to the public and health systems
Decoding the data of the Chinese mpox outbreak
Sounds quite bad, right?
It turns out the reality is a tad more complicated. On the WHO website, the recent mpox data listed under China is the sum of cases reported in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
The lack of data separation is significant here for a few reasons. First, while case counts have indeed risen in China, we don’t know by how much and over what time frame. China reported 106 cases in June alone, and it’s safe to
China is suddenly dealing with another public health crisis: mpox
To efficiently stop the spread of mpox, public health officials need to strike a delicate balance between destigmatizing the disease by dispelling the idea that it affects only gay men and prioritizing the MSM communities that are most vulnerable to it.
“Working with the people that are affected, helping to have non-stigmatizing language and communication, has been hugely effective in helping to curb the outbreak” in the West, Kuppalli says.
So far, some local LGBTQ communities in China feel they’re