Health & Safety

COVID's emergency status ends in May. Here's how it will impact funding and policies

5:57pm January 31, 2023

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Jen Kates from the Kaiser Family Foundation about what it means that President Biden has declared the COVID public health emergency over for the United States in May.

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Health & Safety

Winston Weaver Company won't be back at former site. New zoning rules and other codes see to it.

4:52pm January 31, 2023

by David Ford

One year ago, a major fire broke out in Winston-Salem that had the potential for catastrophic damage.

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New York state records show nearly half the state's 600-plus nursing homes hired real estate, management and staffing companies run or controlled by their owners, frequently paying them well above the cost of services. Meanwhile, in the pandemic's height, the federal government was giving the facilities hundreds of millions in fiscal relief.

Health & Safety

Nursing home owners drained cash while residents deteriorated, state filings suggest

12:10pm January 31, 2023

by Jordan Rau

As the U.S. government debates whether to require higher staffing levels at nursing homes, financial records show some owners routinely push profits to sister companies while residents are neglected.

A man boils raw date palm sap into molasses, a traditional delicacy in Bangladesh.

Trying to crack the Nipah code: How does this deadly virus spill from bats to humans?

12:05pm January 31, 2023

by Ari Daniel

Nipah virus, which can rapidly infect and kill members of a community, is carried by bats. Exactly how does it cross over into humans? Researchers in Bangladesh are trying to find out.

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About 55,000 children will be moved to NC Medicaid

11:33am January 31, 2023

by Neal Charnoff

Thousands of children in North Carolina will soon be moved into the state’s Medicaid program. Officials say this will keep family costs down and provide increased access to care.

Humira, the injectable biologic treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, now faces its first competition from one of several copycat "biosimilar" drugs expected to come to market this year. Some patients spend $70,000 a year on Humira.

Health & Safety

AbbVie's blockbuster drug Humira finally loses its 20-year, $200 billion monopoly

10:08am January 31, 2023

U.S. doctors can now choose Amjevita instead, the first of several close copies of the popular rheumatoid arthritis drug expected this year. But industry-watchers warn consumer savings may be limited.

Obesity is linked to numerous serious health conditions in the U.S. but doctors receive little training in the causes of and treatments for the condition.

Health & Safety

Scant obesity training in medical school leaves docs ill-prepared to help patients

6:22am January 31, 2023

by Yuki Noguchi

Most doctors get little training in the science of obesity or how to counsel people with the disease. As a result, many patients experience stigma in the exam room.

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Health & Safety

Biden plans to end the COVID-19 national emergency on May 11

5:03am January 31, 2023

NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks to Lawrence Gostin, professor of Global Health at Georgetown University, about the Biden administration's decision to end the COVID public health emergency in May.

Fifth-graders wearing face masks sit at proper social distancing during a music class at the Milton Elementary School in Rye, N.Y., May 18, 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic that shuttered classrooms set back learning in some U.S. school systems by more than a year, with children in high-poverty areas affected the most, according to data shared with The Associated Press.

COVID-19 is a leading cause of death among children, but is still rare

4:25am January 31, 2023

by Ayana Archie

Children ages 19 and under died from COVID-19 at a rate at 1 per 100,000, making it rare, but still a leading cause of death among that age group.

Scientists hope to curb the deadly Nipah virus that terrorizes Bangladesh villages

8:26pm January 30, 2023

by Ari Daniel

Every couple of years, a deadly outbreak of Nipah virus terrorizes villages in Bangladesh. Scientists there are studying the virus, which is harbored in fruit bats, to stop the cycle of outbreaks.

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