Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: We Are Failing Postpartum Families; Lifesaving Reforms Needed For Organ Donation System
One in five women will experience a mental health disorder during pregnancy or in the first year following childbirth, according to the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to maternal mental health advocacy. (1/27)
The organ procurement system is made up of 56 organizations, each with a monopoly in its jurisdiction. When someone dies and can donate an organ, O.P.O.s are supposed to go to the hospital, talk to the person鈥檚 family and manage the process of transporting donated organs to those in need, but all too often they have failed to show up 鈥 literally. (Kendall Ciesemier, 1/28)
Last week, Harvard Medical School dean George Q. Daley announced that his institution鈥擜merica's number one-ranked medical school according to U.S. News and World Report鈥攚ill no longer participate in that publication's coveted system of institutional rankings. (Paul Du Quenoy, 1/27)
On Thursday, the University of Chicago鈥檚 Pritzker School of Medicine announced it was withdrawing from the popular rankings published by U.S. News and World Report, the former newsweekly that has carved out a niche ranking individual programs and schools at colleges and universities, as well as entire institutions. (1/27)
Also 鈥
In response to the covid-19 pandemic, world leaders in November launched a new global Pandemic Fund housed at the World Bank to break the historic pattern of 鈥減anic and neglect鈥 regarding global disease outbreaks. (Lawrence H. Summers, Robert Hecht and Shan Soe-Lin, 1/30)
Science is starting to uncover an unnerving fact about viruses: Some might affect our brains over the long haul. It came as a shock that SARS-CoV-2 can lead to lingering neurological problems 鈥 a post-viral syndrome we call long Covid. But the phenomenon might not be unique to this virus. (Faye Flam, 1/28)
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration鈥檚 vaccine advisory committee paved the way for a simpler, flu-like plan for Covid.聽Everyone, whether they鈥檝e been vaccinated before or not, will get a shot tailored to variants on the virus. And likely, people will get those shots once every fall. (Lisa Jarvis, 1/29)
At every stage of the Covid-19 pandemic, national reporting of racial and ethnic disparities in Covid-19 testing, diagnosis, disease severity, treatment, and vaccination by clinicians, public health organizations, and the media has been marred by frustrating data deficiencies. How bad has the problem been? Far beyond bad. (Jennifer W. Tsai, Rohan Khazanchi and Emily Laflamme, 1/30)