What the Doctor Orders

On Wednesday night, U.S. President Barack Obama made a historic address to a joint session of Congress on the issue of health-care coverage and affordability. It is the banner issue of his first year in office, and Washington's top domestic priority. At the same time, nearly 5,000 miles away, in Moscow, legislators are undergoing a strikingly similar process to reform their health-care delivery system. Given the importance of the U.S.-Russia relationship and the similarity of the challenges confronting us, our two countries have a historic opportunity to expand our health collaboration and, in so doing, improve our diplomatic ties.

Thankfully, this process is already underway. At a summit in early July, Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced a memorandum of understanding to expand cooperation on public health and medical sciences. The meeting also produced an agreement for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, to co-chair a forthcoming bilateral commission on health collaborations.

But both countries can and should continue to do more. In May, Dr. Nikolai Gerasimenko -- vice chair of the Duma's Committee on Health Protection -- and I hosted a daylong discussion on the topic at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Our objective was to generate a blueprint for a future strategic collaboration on health. The conference revealed a strong desire to build genuine partnerships around health on the basis of two key challenges.

The first is national demographics. Both Russia and the United States grapple with rapidly aging populations, with all that implies for the provision of health care and social services. Russia's problems are compounded by alarmingly high middle-aged male mortality and birthrates that are too low to sustain the current size of the population. Demographic regression, the Russian delegates emphasized, is the top health-policy priority. In each of our societies, efforts to encourage healthier lifestyles -- in diet, and alcohol and tobacco use -- will reduce chronic disorders, extend lives, and make for a healthier next generation.

The second challenge is the pressing need for health-care reform. Both of our countries struggle to balance the competing imperatives of high quality, equity in access and affordability, and containment of health-care costs. We are each in the midst of a historic effort to reform our health systems, bring about greater efficiencies in complex federal systems, and produce better health outcomes as a return on substantial investments.

Our dialogue also identified five choice opportunities that I hope will inform the next steps by the United States and Russia in building health cooperation.

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2:56 AM ET

September 25, 2009

Health

Health is wealth that's why we should always take care our health. Well, here's a thing that you should all know! Children's Tylenol recall is being initiated. However, there probably isn't too much to worry about at this point. The affected product in the Children's Tylenol recall is in warehouses, and none of it is thus far known to have been sold to consumers. The affected pills contain a bacteria, Burkholderia Cepacia, or b. cepacia, which is a nasty little bugger that affects soil and plants, but attacks the pulmonary system, causing pneumonia in immunocompromised patients, especially those with cystic fibrosis or underlying conditions affecting the lungs. So don't rush out for money loans to see if your children are sick from medicine – the Children's Tylenol recall likely is happening before anything serious goes on.

Foreign Policy Magazine

What the Doctor Orders

The United States and Russia face strikingly similar health-care challenges -- providing a rare opportunity to strengthen their bilateral relationship.

BY WILLIAM H. FRIST | SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

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