Category Archives: Public Health

China’s Health Diplomacy

Written by Damjan Denoble. Posted on March 11, 2010. Filed under China, Public Health. No comments.
After there was a lot of hullabaloo, both good and bad, about China's efforts in Haiti - China was first on the scene! But wait, it was only there to save other Chinese! - I was reminded that a country's healthcare might is one of its most powerful diplomatic tools. Being able to send soldiers into a warzone sends a message. But, bringing medical aid to a war zone sends a different kind of message; lets just say that Afghanistanis trust Italian medical doctor Alberto Cairo more than they do military personnel.

H5N1 might make a comeback in Southeast Asia

Written by Damjan Denoble. Posted on March 8, 2010. Filed under Asia, NOT-China, Public Health. No comments.
The concern has always been that areas like Myanmar, which have poor oversight, can end up as incubation hubbs for avian viruses. The worst case scenario is a virus with a long incubation period because infected birds would be able to carry it long distances, without dying, passing it on to other birds, and making it more likely that humans, too, would get infected.

Expatitis: The diagnosis, and the cure

Written by Damjan Denoble. Posted on March 1, 2010. Filed under China, Public Health. 2 Comments.
Dr. Richard Cyr over at the My Health Beijing blog has coined a new illness for foreigner living and working in China - expatitis - and I hope it catches on. The piece, Expatitis: Are You Infected? and the second installment of the series, Expatitis, Part Two: Stress are both worth a read since they spell out just what one can expect when living life in the expat fast lane of cheap beer, cigarettes, and irregular sleep cycles.

Western Physicians in China see things differently

Written by Damjan Denoble. Posted on February 22, 2010. Filed under China, Public Health. 2 Comments.
Dr. Richard Cyr of the excellent "My Health Beijing" blog has had a practice, in Beijing, for the past three years. Sometime ago I communicated to him that it would be fascinating to read how his Beijing experience differs from his experience as a physician, in the United States. Over on his blog, he recently put up an entry called "An American Doctor in China: What's Different?"

Superbugs a problem in China, here, and everywhere. And don’t just blame it on Chinese doctors.

Written by Damjan Denoble. Posted on February 12, 2010. Filed under China, Public Health. 2 Comments.
To be sure, the drug resistance situation in China is worrying. Of course, the article fails to mention the fact that the situation is equally worrying in much of the world. Overprescribing of antibiotics to humans, overuse of antibiotics in agriculture, and drug resistant bacteria are big problems in America, the UK and Europe, South and Latin America, Australia, Russia, India and anywhere else that antibiotics are readily available. In the UK, it should be added, antibiotics panic is a favorite way of pundits to get the public riled up. I think its because the threat of country-wide infection is a particularly frightening prospect for people living on islands; there's only so many places that one can run to get away.