Search - health

 
 
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 17, 2022

India is stalling WHO’s efforts to make global COVID death toll public

More than one-third of an additional 9 million deaths are estimated to have occurred in India, but the country is not alone in undercounting the pandemic's toll.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 28, 2021

As omicron surges, officials shorten isolation times for many Americans

By shortening the recommended isolation period, federal health officials hope to minimize disruptions to the economy and everyday life.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 20, 2021

U.K. weighing lockdown amid omicron wave and political turmoil

Scientific advisers have warned lawmakers that more action is needed because the surge is threatening to overwhelm the country's health system.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 6, 2021

COVID-19 vaccine shots are finally arriving, but Africa can't get them all into arms

A shortage of funds, medical staff and equipment, as well as vaccine hesitancy, could exacerbate the challenges the continent already faces.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Sep 21, 2021

COVID-19's classification in Japan is limiting treatment. Now doctors want it changed.

COVID-19's status in Japan as a new influenza infection puts a heavy burden on public health centers and restricts when and where patients can receive medical care.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 12, 2021

Bruised by border politics, some Biden officials cling to Trump order on migrants

The order enables U.S. officials to rapidly expel migrants at both the southern and northern borders during the COVID-19 pandemic, essentially cutting off access to asylum for most migrants.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
May 17, 2021

The man behind Brazil's search for miracle COVID-19 cures

One official's ascent reveals the central role that unproven treatments continue to play in Brazil.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
May 14, 2021

Vaccine lottery: Indian states grapple with how to share COVID-19 jabs

India is a major producer of COVID-19 vaccines, but by Monday it had fully vaccinated only 34.8 million people — about 2.5% of the population, government data shows.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 4, 2021

Reaching ‘herd immunity’ is unlikely in the U.S., experts now believe

New variants and persistent hesitancy about vaccines will keep the goal out of reach. The virus is here to stay, but vaccinating the most vulnerable may be enough to restore normalcy.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2021

They know the drill: Dentists tapped to speed up Japan's slow vaccine rollout

Their involvement will be contingent upon municipalities not being able to secure enough doctors and nurses to go ahead with mass vaccinations at public facilities.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2021

Likely legal, ‘vaccine passports’ emerge as the next coronavirus divide in U.S.

Around the U.S., businesses, schools and politicians are considering 'vaccine passports” as a path to reviving the economy and getting Americans back to work and play.
JAPAN / Science & Health / A MATTER OF HEALTH
Aug 30, 2017

Once skeptical Japan embraces telemedicine as regulatory hurdles fall

For working people with health issues, visiting a clinic has long meant taking hours off work on a weekday and spending more time in the waiting room than talking with a doctor.
EDITORIALS
Jul 29, 2016

Dispute over HPV vaccinations

The controversy over HPV vaccinations highlights the need for Japan to develop a better research mechanism for drug side effects.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 3, 2016

Zika poses Asia, Oceania, South Europe threat; Sanofi joins race for viable vaccine

The Zika virus could spread to Africa, Asia and Southern Europe, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, as major French drugmaker Sanofi SA and others joined the race to create a vaccine.
COMMENTARY
Jan 20, 2015

Building community resilience to disasters: legacy of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake

The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake ushered in a new era of volunteerism in Japan, and highlighted many lessons on how to prepare for disasters.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 26, 2014

Ebola fight needs $430 million to end outbreak: WHO

More than $430 million will be needed to bring the worst Ebola outbreak on record under control, according to a draft document laying out the World Health Organization's battle strategy.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2014

Children bear the brunt of Syria's bloody war

Syria's war has taken a terrible toll on the nation's children, leaving at least 10,000 dead and at lest 4.3 million in urgent need of health and humanitarian assistance.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2013

Odds of mother-child survival in north Nigeria

Nigeria is the second-largest contributor to the under-5 and maternal mortality rate in the world. And most of the deaths could be prevented with simple, low-cost interventions.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 9, 2013

'Nutritious' claims need to be taken with a pinch of salt

During a recent visit to the United States, I was impressed by several advertising campaigns. The American Beverage Association (ABA) is running a series of spots that alternatingly complain of what it deems the over-regulation of soft drinks and promote the efforts of member manufacturers to make their...
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2011

Low-level radiation questions spur anxiety

For residents of Fukushima Prefecture, anxiety over their exposure to low levels of radiation has been palpable since the March 11 twin disasters crippled the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
EDITORIALS
Oct 10, 2011

Beating noncommunicable disease

Why do most people die? That was the question addressed by a special summit meeting of the United Nations in New York City in mid-September. The final report from the first-time summit identified noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) as the leading cause of death worldwide.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2011

Global drug industry announces action plan against threats of noncommunicable disease

Behind the scenes the past 10 years, the pharmaceutical industry has been going through some important changes in how it responds to the need for medicines and vaccines in developing countries.
Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, head of Thailand's Department of Disease Control, speaks during a news conference following the suspected first case of the new, more dangerous strain of mpox in Bangkok on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Aug 23, 2024

Thailand confirms Asia’s first case of new mpox virus strain

The patient who tested positive for clade Ib was a European man who arrived in Bangkok last week from Africa.
Emergency responders assist a man who collapsed during lengthy heat wave in Phoenix in July last year.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 24, 2024

Heat kills thousands in the U.S. every year. Why are the deaths so hard to track?

As heat waves become more frequent and intense, researchers and activists say the lack of effective tracking is leading to needless deaths.
People use umbrellas during a hot summer day in Ginza, Tokyo, in August.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 1, 2024

Extreme heat takes big toll on work and elderly mortality in Japan: report

The annual Lancet Countdown report says the world is facing elevated threats in 10 of 15 health indicators due to climate change.
Numbered evidence markers indicate where bullet casings were located at the crime scene outside the New York Hilton Midtown, where Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, was fatally shot, Dec. 4.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 13, 2024

Suspect in UnitedHealthcare shooting visited Japan, then vanished

New details are emerging about Luigi Mangione’s growing impatience with "a capitalist society” and his search for refuge in the mountains of Japan.
The minaret of a mosque is pictured next to destroyed buildings in the Khalidiya district in Homs on Feb. 10, 2025.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 2, 2025

'Total panic' as USAID cuts jobs from Syria to Haiti

In 2023, USAID spent $42 billion to support programs across 157 countries — ranging from malaria and HIV prevention to fighting starvation and helping those displaced by war.
Elon Musk and President Donald Trump's assertion that U.S. aid cuts to programs including PEPFAR and USAID in Africa aren't causing harm is not true. Children and others are already dying as a result.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2025

Musk says aid cuts haven’t killed anyone. That's not true.

In South Sudan, one of the world’s poorest countries, the efforts by Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump are already leading children to die.
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Sunday.
WORLD
May 19, 2025

Israel to let limited amounts of food into Gaza as new ground assault begins

Facing mounting pressure over an aid blockade it imposed in March and the risk of famine, Israel has stepped up its campaign in Gaza.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person