In Society
Dr. Joia Crear-Perry: Elevating Voices and Challenging Systemic Racism in Health
Dr. Joia A. Crear-Perry is a prominent physician, policy expert, and a dedicated advocate for social justice, particularly in the realm of maternal and child health. As the founder and president of the National Birth Equity Collaborative, she has committed her career to addressing the deep-rooted issues of racial inequities in healthcare.
Dr. Crear-Perry’s work challenges systemic racism as a fundamental cause of health disparities, making her a sought-after speaker and trainer featured in various national and international media, including Essence and Ms. magazines.
The CDC says maternal mortality rates in the U.S. got better, after a pandemic spike
After spiking in 2021, the maternal mortality rate in the U.S. improved significantly the following year, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The data shows that 817 women died of maternal causes in the U.S. in 2022, compared to 1,205 in 2021. These are deaths that take place during pregnancy or within 42 days following delivery, according to the World Health Organization, “from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes.”
“I think that the bump [in 2021] reflects the pandemic and we’re returning to pre-pandemic levels,” says study author Donna Hoyert, who a health scientist at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.
Role of Social Determinants in Maternal and Child Health
About 287,000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth in 2020. Around 95% of these maternal deaths occurred in low and lower middle-income countries and nearly every death was preventable. Equally, children under the age of five continue to face differing chances of survival based on where they are born and raised.
A child born in sub-Saharan Africa is 11 times more likely to die in the first month of life than one born in the region of Australia and New Zealand, and a 15-year-old girl in sub-Saharan Africa is 400 times more likely to die in her lifetime due to issues related to childbirth than a 15-year-old girl living in Australia and New Zealand (with the ratio for SSA being 1 in 40, compared to ANZ being 1 in 16,000 women).
Where is the Maternal Health Gap?
Maternal health has long been a central focus in global initiatives, prominently featured in key frameworks such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescents’ Health.
Unfortunately, despite these efforts, the ambitious targets—particularly those aimed at reducing maternal mortality—remain unmet.
A recent report from the Copenhagen Consensus Center highlights these challenges, and this infographic offers further insight into the statistics.
Jerry Franklin: The Father of New Forestry
Jerry Franklin, known as the “Father of New Forestry,” has made his mark in forest management for integrating ecological and economic objectives. His approaches, which faced skepticism initially, have become the standard in both environmental and timber industry circles.
Franklin began his career as a research forester for the USDA Forest Service in 1959. His early work included long-term experiments on forest ecosystems, particularly old-growth forests.
Shiuly Khatun: Dengue Warrior
Shiuly Khatun is a Field Supervisor at the Dhalpur Aalo Clinic in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where she manages and coordinates the clinic’s operations. Her daily responsibilities are vast and critical, ranging from mapping areas and dividing work for community volunteers to conducting health sessions and overseeing satellite clinic activities.
Dengue fever, once confined to the tropics, now threatens the U.S.
Climate change is expanding the habitat of the mosquitoes that carry the disease, allowing them to spread further north.
Meg Norris was traveling in Argentina in April when the first signs of dengue fever hit her. The weather in Salta, just south of the Bolivian border, was warm, but Norris, a 33-year-old from Boulder, Colorado, zipped a fleece sweatshirt around her body to stop herself from shivering.
“I thought it was sun poisoning,” she said.
Dr. Samuel Katz: The Man Who Helped Conquer Measles
Dr. Samuel Katz made monumental contributions to pediatric health and vaccinations before his passing on October 31, 2022, at the age of 95. His career was proof that one dedicated individual can have a profound impact on global public health.
Born on May 29, 1927, in Manchester, NH, Samuel Katz initially studied journalism at Dartmouth College, but quickly switched to medicine after a stint in the Navy during World War II. Moving on to his medical studies at Harvard Medical School, he was drawn into the world of virology under the tutelage of John Enders, a Nobel Laureate. This collaboration marked the beginning of Katz’s lifelong battle against infectious diseases, which included the development of the measles vaccine.
Understanding Measles
Check out this video by CBC on one of the world’s most contagious but preventable diseases. Learn how measles attacks the body and what makes it so contagious.
Europe and the U.S. Battle Measles – Again
Initially, doctors in the Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina thought the rash on young Imran’s* stomach could be scarlet fever. Or maybe it was Kawasaki disease. As reported by Eurosurveillance, that was in early December 2023. By Christmas, four of Imran’s preschool classmates had been admitted to the hospital with measles. By mid-January 2024, another epidemiologically linked case – again originally misdiagnosed as the much less contagious scarlet fever – presented in a neighboring canton. Two more quickly followed. Between the last week of December and the middle of February, the Balkan nation had reported 141 new measles cases.
Barts Health Trust’s Dr. David Harrington said the misdiagnoses should not be unexpected.
“Many front-line clinicians won’t have seen measles for several years,” he told Medscape UK. “So good education and training and collaboration between public health and infection specialists with those in primary and emergency care is key.”