Archive for category Health
Tim Hatton on Height and Health in Britain 1880-1950
Professor Tim Hatton of the Economics Program at the Research School of Social Sciences (ANU) spoke to us about his research on health and height (stature) in turn-of-the-century Britain. What is interesting about his work, is that his data set comes from the 1937 study by Sir John Boyd Orr of working class children in 16 locations in England and Scotland and allows the study of the famous `quality, quantity tradeoff’. The interview begins by asking Tim to explain exactly what this means.
I.O.U.S.A.: The Movie
Posted by sangus in Health, Sustainability on 27 April, 2009
Watch a 30min version of the high-impact documentary that aims to reconfigure the way that government fiscal decisions are made in the US. Will it have an impact? Time will tell.
In any case, makes for interesting watching, especially if you consider the ‘balanced budget’ criterion for many developing countries when it comes to developmetn assistance.
Zimbabwe - Left to Die - Foreign Correspondent - ABC
Watch online now
Read the transcript of Andrew Geoghegan’s undercover trip to Zimbabwe from ABC’s Foreign Correspondent, an excerpt is here:
Cholera is a preventable disease, yet there’s an epidemic raging in Zimbabwe. At least 4,000 are dead, and some 90,000 infected. Filming secretly and posing as tourists, reporter Andrew Geoghegan and producer Mary Ann Jolley uncover the true extent of the crisis. President Robert Mugabe denies there’s an epidemic, but in community after community, Foreign Correspondent finds dozens of victims and their families.
Many blame the government but it seems others may also share responsibility for the dire situation. We meet a former United Nations insider who is highly critical of the role the organisation’s Humanitarian Coordinator is playing in Zimbabwe. He says the lives of millions have been compromised because the UN’s highest humanitarian official in Zimbabwe is too close to the Mugabe regime.
Peter Singer on the Ethics of Giving to the Very Poor
Peter Singer was recently interviewed by Kate O’Toole on Triple J’s current affairs program, Hack. In the interview and ensuing discussion, Singer raised some interesting points with one central theme: the rich world (that’s us) have a moral obligation to give a significant percentage of our incomes to the developing world. No ifs. No buts.
To begin with, Kate O’Toole describes a thought experiment that Singer introduced to motivate the ethical argument of his book, The Life You Can Save (he has a website of the same name). In short, the picture is this: imagine walking home one day from university with your bag over your shoulder, and you pass a local lake — you do this every day, except that this day you notice for the first time that there is a child who is stuck in the lake and is drowning not far from the edge. What should you do?
Have a think about it.
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BBC’s Claudia Hammond on HIV/AIDS in South Africa
Posted by sangus in Development, Health, Podcast on 24 March, 2009
Reporting on HIV/AIDS in Khayelitsha, a province of Cape Town, on the Western Cape of South Africa
via BBC World Service - Find A Programme - Health Check.
In this piece, Hammond gives a fascinating insight into the real impact of HIV/AIDS in South Africa, and along the way meets many encouraging people who are trying to make a difference. In particular, the link between immuno-suppressed HIV/AIDS patients and tuberculosis is explored, with attention on the difficulties of obtaining patient compliance with complicated medication schemes that TB and HIV/AIDS demands. More a story of hope than anything else, but the scale of the problem cannot be underestimated.
Reporting on Closing the Gap - Should we Already Expect Progress?
Posted by sangus in Development, Health, Podcast, Poverty on 24 March, 2009
For those Australians who think that Development issues are something to do with Sub-Suharan Africa, think again. There is all the terrible and tragic action happening right on our doorstep.
The recent first report card speech delivered by the PM to parliament went for 40min and by some accounts and responses, didn’t deliver a great deal.
In my opinion though, we should give the PM a break, for now at least.
When you consider the situation, to think that substantial progress would have been made in 12 months on the ‘gaps’ in health and education between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians is fanciful. These are long-run statistics that capture generational change, not intra-generational progress.
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