BY MURILO DORION João da Silva is a 61-year-old Brazilian man with a severe hernia that causes constant pain and nausea. He was diagnosed in March but, because of the pandemic, the local government relocated his doctor to a field hospital, pushed non-emergent surgeries, and left João waiting for his urgent procedure at least up … Continue reading The Doctor with a Gavel: Keeping the Gates to the Constitutional Right to Health in Brazil
BY SOPHIA DE OLIVERA As I peered outside the window of a bus shuttling me to my grandmother’s house from the Rio International Airport, I found myself exceedingly curious about the towering multicolored slums decorating the outskirts of the Brazilian city. These vast stretches of impoverished housing, known as Favelas, were unlike anything I’d ever … Continue reading The Rise of an Unlikely Public Health Ally: Brazilian Drug Cartels
BY MAHRUKH SHAHID Earlier this year, the Prime Minister (PM) of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, launched a state-run health insurance program called the Prime Minister’s Health Program (PMHP). The scheme initially targeted 15 districts, but PM Sharif quickly announced plans to expand PMHP to 23 districts and expressed hope that the program would soon become available … Continue reading Pakistan & Brazil: The Current Narrative of Healthcare Reform
Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that carries the Zika virus. Source: Wikimedia Commons BY ELI RAMI ZIKV, more commonly known as the Zika virus, has quickly evolved from a little-researched virus into a global public health threat. Virologists first discovered the pathogen during the late 1940s in a species of monkey that inhabits Uganda’s Zika forest. … Continue reading Zika: What History Can Tell Us About the Current Epidemic
Risk of Zika for Brazil's Indigenous BY HARLAND DAHL Although most cases remain concentrated in northeastern and southeastern Brazil, the distribution of the Zika virus continues to grow throughout the country. As of February, Brazil was one of thirty countries in the Americas facing a Zika threat. Since the outbreak of Zika virus in Brazil, … Continue reading Photo Feature – Brazil
BY REBECCA SLUTSKY Brazil has the largest economy of all Latin American nations. Despite its economic status and its efforts to improve the health of its citizens, morbidity and mortality statistics remain shockingly high. Nearly 50% of babies are delivered by caesarean section, leading to C-section related complications. Furthermore, over a million illegal abortions are performed each year, suggesting … Continue reading Brazil: The Challenge of Maternal Healthcare
BY CINDY ALVARREZ Although classified as a middle income country, Mexico is characterized by vast inequality that divides the population into the frivolously wealthy and the extremely poor. In 2000, approximately a quarter of Mexico’s population was living in extreme poverty. In other words, a quarter of Mexico’s population did not have enough income … Continue reading Oportunidades: The Value of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs
BY AKHIL UPNEJA In July 2015, the Associated Press published a concerning report regarding contamination levels in the waters surrounding Rio de Janeiro, the venue of the 2016 Summer Olympics. In the scathing report, the Associated Press writes “Olympic athletes are almost certain to come into contact with disease-causing viruses that in some tests measured up to 1.7 million … Continue reading Olympic Levels of Water Contamination in Rio de Janeiro
BY ANABEL STAROSTA We are no strangers to viral outbreaks and the panic they often incite. As new infections emerge, understanding their trajectories and risks is crucial. Currently, most countries in South and Central America are facing outbreaks of the Zika virus. The pandemic does not appear to be life threatening, but it is spreading quickly. The most concerning aspect … Continue reading Tracing the Zika virus Outbreak
BY HOLLY ROBINSON I consider myself to be a person who likes being surrounded by people in small, cozy spaces. However, that didn’t seem to the case when I found myself in the middle seat of a ten-hour red eye flight this May. Though there is only a one-hour time difference between New York and … Continue reading Barriers to Care in São Paulo Home Visiting Programs
Yale Global Health Review 