Public Health

Take Your Vitamins

It isn't just a lack of food that's robbing the world's poor of a healthy future.

BY BJØRN LOMBORG | APRIL 18, 2007

Save the Russians!

Citizens of the former superpower are dying in catastrophic numbers. For very little, we could prove they haven't been forgotten.

BY NICHOLAS EBERSTADT | MARCH 31, 2007

Chronic Neglect

Meet the developing world's new health emergency: The rich world's diseases.

BY MICHAEL P. BIRT | AUGUST 8, 2006

Taxed to Death

Developing countries claim the West cheats them out of cheap drugs. But they are often the ones erecting barriers to their citizens' health.

BY ROGER BATE | JUNE 12, 2006

Rx for Corruption

Around the world, stockpiles of drugs sit untouched in warehouses. Why do they remain just out of patients' reach? The answer is simple: bribery, graft, and fraud.

BY MAUREEN LEWIS | JUNE 12, 2006

Quest for the Cure

More than a third of the world's population doesn’t have access to essential medications. Greedy drug companies, government bureaucracies, and apathy all get in the way. Some brave scientists have had enough of the high costs and red tape. They're frustrated, they're mad, and now they're finding ways to buck the system.

BY ERIKA CHECK | JUNE 12, 2006

What's Next in the Sino-Viral War?

Hundreds lost their lives when Beijing covered up its SARS outbreak. Now, as another pandemic looms, the world holds its breath to see how China will confront the threat.

BY KARL TARO GREENFELD | FEBRUARY 17, 2006

The Virus Hunters

When the deadly SARS virus struck China three years ago, Beijing responded with a massive coverup. If it weren’t for the persistence of two young reporters and one doctor who had seen enough, SARS might have killed thousands more. There's no guarantee the world will be so lucky next time.

BY KARL TARO GREENFELD | FEBRUARY 17, 2006

The Deadliest Virus

After reading John Barry's The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History, U.S. President George W. Bush put the country on high alert for avian flu. With the World Health Organization (WHO) predicting a death toll of up to 100 million, FP spoke to the man who convinced the president of how dangerous the virus really is.

JANUARY 4, 2006

Prime Numbers: The Battle of the Bulge

Obesity grows ever larger worldwide.

BY KELLY D. BROWNELL, DEREK YACH | NOVEMBER 9, 2005

Dollar Domains

BY CAROLYN O'HARA | NOVEMBER 9, 2005

Polio

BY JULIE L. GERBERDING | AUGUST 30, 2005

The Muslim Face of AIDS

AIDS does not discriminate by religion or citizenship. Yet, for years, leaders of Muslim countries have denied the pandemic's threat to their societies. While they looked the other way, HIV quietly crept into the most vulnerable populations in the most volatile parts of the world. Muslim leaders must now address the threat -- or risk losing their community of believers to a global plague.

BY LAURA M. KELLEY, NICHOLAS EBERSTADT | JULY 1, 2005

The Price of Life

The misplaced priorities of the pharmaceutical industry.

BY RACHEL GLENNERSTER, MICHAEL KREMER, HEIDI WILLIAMS | MAY 5, 2005

Think Again: AIDS

Two decades and billions of dollars into the fight against AIDS, the world still has a long way to go in arresting the epidemic. The cash that donor governments roll out with much fanfare won't make a dent so long as misperceptions persist about how we are winning and losing the battle against the disease.

BY TINA ROSENBERG | MARCH 1, 2005

Pandemic Politics

BY ANDRÉ-JAQUES NEUSY | NOVEMBER 1, 2004

Travel Bugs

NOVEMBER 1, 2004

The Biosecurity of Nations

BY BRADLEY T. SMITH | JULY 1, 2004

Grand Death Auto

MARCH 1, 2004

Waist Not, Want Not

SEPTEMBER 1, 2003

Pests and Pestilence

Why humans are more vulnerable than ever to animal-borne diseases.

BY FRED PEARCE | JULY 1, 2003

A Plague's Bottom Line

FP looks at the AIDS crisis.

BY KEITH HANSEN | JULY 1, 2003

Russia's Killer Prudes

NOVEMBER 1, 2002

Dark Winters Ahead

BY PETER HOTEZ | NOVEMBER 1, 2001

Unearthing Grave Offenses

BY DOUGLAS MCGRAY | SEPTEMBER 1, 2001

The Not-So-Hot Zone

JULY 1, 2001

Malaria Returns

JULY 1, 2001

Vaccinating Against Crisis

BY KENNETH HILL | MARCH 1, 2001