Reporting public
health and medicine
Thomas Abraham
Today’s class



Introduction to health and medical news
Course objectives and course outline
Organizing our course work

"The observed number of two GBS cases
among vaccinated persons so far lies within
normal expectation of baseline incidence that
would occur in a population of 170,000
(regardless of vaccination history), adjusted
for age and seasonal effects," the spokesman
said.
This is about life and death



Experts are often divided
There are often commercial, political and
personal interests at play
The public depend on you for information on
which they can act
This is about life and death



Experts are often divided
There are often commercial, political and
personal interests at play
The public depend on you for information on
which they can act
Life and death at a global level:
global health issues



“AIDS is not just another public health threat,
but now belongs in the league of make-or
break issues of our times-together with mass
poverty, climate change and terrorism.” Peter
Piot, former head of UNAIDS
Today, 12,000 people are likely to be infected
with HIV/AIDS and 6,000 are likely to die
http://www.globalhealthfacts.org/topic.jsp?i=1#table
Other diseases




2,500 children, mostly under the age of five,
are likely to die today in sub Saharan Africa
of malaria.
Diarrhoeal disease kills 1.5 million children
every year.
Tuberculosis kills 1.8 million people a year
By reporting on these issues, intelligently
journalism can persuade governments to take
action
Why study health and medical
reporting?

If you are good at it, you can make a
difference!
Three areas of health and
medical reporting



Medicine
Public health
Health policy
1. Health policy




How should health care be provided? By the
government, or by private businesses and
foundations?
Should the cost of health care be borne by
individuals, or by society as a whole?
Should all members of a society have a right to
health care regardless of their ability to pay?
How much should a society spend on health
care?
2. Medical reporting
Largely about new treatments for diseases
 Three main sources
-articles in scientific journals
-scientific conferences
-press conferences by scientists
-Reports by WHO and other scientific
organizations

The challenges of medical
reporting
1.
Understanding and interpreting medical
trials, and the principles of evidence based
medicine
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id
=7123744n&tag=cbsnewsSectionsArea.3
Understanding the power of
money
2. Understanding the power of money: the
global pharmaceutical industry is a US $500
billion dollar a year industry, facing severe
competitive, regulatory and economic
pressures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNFuEcy5e
kg
Understanding the power of
money


“Some of the expensive drugs available today
have only modest therapeutic benefits, while
many inexpensive medicines are highly
effective and safe.”
“Manufacturers provide a stream of new
products for the medicines market place,
usually at higher prices than existing
products.”
WHO Report “The World’s Medicines Situation
Understanding the power of
money
Medical research is fuelled by money:
-from industry
-from foundations
-from governments and public money
 Even scientific journals are commercial
enterprises

3. Public health




Public health is concerned with the health of
communities and societies
Clinical medicine on the other hand focuses on
disease in individual patients
Public health studies ways to improve community
health through disease prevention
Public health interventions to improve community
health include improving sanitation, promoting
healthier lifestyles, vaccinations etc.
Some definitions of public
health


“The science and art of preventing disease,
prolonging life and promoting health
through the organised efforts of society” Sir
Donald Acheson
“What we as a society do collectively to
assure the conditions in which people can be
healthy” Institute of Medicine. USA
Which of these headlines is about
public health, and which is not?





“Government unveils new measures to reduce road
side pollution”
“New surgical treatment increases success rate of
liver transplants”
“Vietnam announces fresh outbreak of bird flu”
“Outbreak of diarrhoea forces kindergarten closure”
“New drug dramatically reduces high blood
pressure”
A game to try out…

Outbreak at Watersedge: Public Health
Simulation Game
(http://www.mclph.umn.edu/watersedge/)
The demand for health and
medical journalism








http://www.reuters.com/news/health
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health/
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/health/index.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/2718-500202_162-489.html?tag=related
www.bmj.com
www.thelancet.com
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/
Course objectives




To understand the principles of good public health and
medical reporting
To understand the sources of scientific and health
information and how to use them
To learn to understand and interpret scientific and
health information and turn them into clear, intelligent
news reports.
To give you the skills to work the health beat in a news
organization
Home work



Sign up for news alerts, the Lancet
(www.thelancet.com), the New England
Journal of Medicine, Science and Nature
Follow the Eurekalert web site
http://www.eurekalert.org
Read first two chapters of The Rise and Fall
of Modern Medicine
Course work


You will chose a topic in medicine or public
health you are interested in ( ie cancer,
HIV/AIDS, influenza, mental illnesses etc) and
write 3 stories of around 400-500 words each
based on new findings in journals(50% of grade)
You will complete on line courses in HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria at
http://www.globalhealthlearning.org/login.cfm
(20% of grade)



Read a review a book on from the list in your
syllabus (20%)
Class contributions ( 10%)
Deadlines next class