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Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 23, 2022

U.S. scales back pandemic response even as China's COVID surge raises alarm

The shift, driven by congressional penny-pinching, marks a political, economic and public health gamble.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 20, 2022

From 'zero-COVID' to no plan: Behind China’s pandemic U-turn

Xi's own formula for beating back COVID may have inadvertently set China up for this jolting and potentially devastating turn.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 15, 2022

WHO hopeful COVID-19 emergency will end in 2023

As the third anniversary of the original outbreak rolls around, the WHO said the virus was here to stay but would need managing alongside other respiratory illnesses.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 13, 2022

G20 unveils global pandemic fund to avoid repeat of COVID-19

The World Bank will manage the G20 fund to address future COVID-19 pandemics, drawing commitments from more than 20 counties, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and others.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 11, 2022

Repeat COVID-19 is riskier than first infection, study finds

Reinfected patients had a more than doubled risk of death and a more than tripled risk of hospitalization compared with those who were infected with COVID-19 just once, the study showed.
JAPAN
Oct 13, 2022

Japan updates advice on clinic visits for COVID patients amid 'twindemic' fears

People between the ages of 12 and 64 with a low risk of developing severe COVID-19 symptoms have been asked to refrain from going to so-called fever clinics.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 3, 2022

Pakistani hospital overwhelmed as water-borne illnesses spread

Stagnant floodwaters, which may take months to recede, have already led to widespread cases of skin and eye infections, diarrhea, malaria, typhoid and dengue fever.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2022

Here’s who really needs the new COVID-19 booster

Instead of pushing everyone to get another COVID-19 vaccine, the CDC should be prioritizing older and unboosted people.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2022

Japan seeing no sign of monkeypox spreading

'As the number of infected people remains small (in Japan), there is no need to worry too much about the disease,' says one professor at Tokyo Medical University.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 17, 2022

Why a century-old vaccine offers new hope against pathogens

The B.C.G. tuberculosis vaccine may protect against COVID-19 and other infections by broadly bolstering the immune system.
Japan Times
Indonesia report 2022
Aug 16, 2022

Taisho Pharmaceutical: Health is wealth

Headquartered in Millennium Centennial Center in central Jakarta, Taisho Pharmaceutical Indonesia is playing an important role within Indonesia’s health care sector.
It is still unclear whether BA.2.86 will be able to out-compete other strains of the virus that causes COVID-19, or have any advantage in escaping immune responses from prior infection or vaccination.
WORLD / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Aug 21, 2023

What you need to know about BA.2.86, the new COVID variant

Scientists are keeping an eye on the new lineage because it has 36 mutations that distinguish it from the currently dominant XBB.1.5 variant.
A construction site in Dubai, where workers often face temperatures up to 45 degrees Celsius
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 23, 2023

As temperatures climb, millions more people face food insecurity

A recent study shows that extreme heat leads to an impossible conundrum for many workers: Risk your health to earn a living, or go hungry.
People wait in line to take a COVID-19 oral swab test on a sidewalk in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City on June 20.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 25, 2023

Highly mutated COVID variant BA.2.86 found in two more countries

Omicron offshoot BA.2.86 carries more than 35 mutations in key portions of the virus compared with XBB.1.5, the dominant variant through most of 2023.
People sit on a rail track as smoke rises from steel mills near a slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Aug 30, 2023

Air pollution now a risk to life expectancy in South Asia: study

Rapid industrialization and population growth have contributed to declining air quality in South Asia.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 8, 2023

New COVID variant detected in Japan amid wave of infections

While there’s no evidence so far that it causes more severe illness, experts say it may be more capable of infecting people who have been infected before.
A man receives a COVID-19 vaccination  at Aoyama University in Tokyo in August 2021.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 9, 2023

Japan to end free COVID-19 vaccinations in March

From fiscal 2024, the country will provide a COVID-19 shot once a year between to people aged 65 or over who are at high risk of severe symptoms.
Asep Muizudin Muhamad Darmini was recently discharged from a hospital in Jakarta after being treated for a respiratory illness caused by the city's air pollution.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Sep 13, 2023

Breathless Indonesians irate over pollution crisis in Jakarta

Air pollution is hardly a new phenomenon in the city, but monitors and activists say the effects have been even worse than usual this year.
A 93-year-old at his office in Tokyo solves ancient math problems in Egyptian numbers to keep his mind sharp.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 3, 2023

Japan prepares national project to deal with dementia

About 9.53 million people, or 1 in 4 elderly people, are predicted to have dementia in 2040.
A prescription injector for Ozempic, a weight loss drug
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2023

Ozempic cuts alcohol cravings. Liquor companies aren’t ready.

A survey conducted by Morgan Stanley’s AlphaWise research unit found that people consumed 62% less alcohol while taking weight loss drugs.
Much of the focus on Meta stemmed from a whistleblower's release of documents in 2021 that showed the company knew Instagram, which began as a photo-sharing app, was addictive and worsened body image issues for some teen girls.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 25, 2023

Lawsuits against Meta in 33 states claim Instagram harms children

Children have long been an appealing demographic for businesses, which hope to attract them as consumers at ages when they may be more impressionable.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 25, 2023

Total transplants from brain-dead donors near 1,000 after 26 years

Less than 3% of patients waiting for organ transplants have received transplants, as Japan still faces a serious shortage of organ donors.
Single-use bathing wear that comes in the form of a blouse or a dress
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Nov 6, 2023

Breast cancer survivors face tough time at public baths

It is customary in Japan not to take clothing or towels into the water at public baths, and some facilities make it a rule for hygienic reasons.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 7, 2023

Japan’s aging population to increase burden on nursing care costs

The average annual nursing care cost per capita is estimated to increase 75% to ¥235,000 in 2050 compared to 2019 levels, according to government data.
Alex Zhavoronkov, founder and chairman of Insilico Medicine, poses at his research facility in Suzhou, China, on Oct. 31.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 14, 2023

Race for first drug discovered by AI nears key milestone

Insilico Medicine's AI-developed drug for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is in midstage trials in the U.S. and China.
Children and their parents wait at an outpatient area at a children's hospital in Beijing on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health / EXPLAINER
Nov 25, 2023

What we know so far about surging respiratory illnesses in China

While emphasizing that the full situation remains unclear, experts say there is little to suggest the cases were caused by a new virus.
Whereas obtaining a test was often difficult in early 2020, now the abundance of cheaper rapid kits in grocery stores and home medicine cabinets has led to a new concern — they don’t seem to work.
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Jan 13, 2024

Our bodies are responding differently to COVID. Testing for it needs to catch up.

The abundance of cheaper rapid kits in grocery stores and home medicine cabinets has led to a new concern — they don’t seem to work.
A suicide helpline worker takes calls in Tokyo. Health ministry officials say that comprehensive countermeasures are needed to realize a society in which people do not feel suicidal.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 26, 2024

Suicides in Japan decreased slightly to 21,818 in 2023

The decrease marks the first decline in the number of suicides in two years.
A woman grills a piece of beef at a barbeque restaurant in Yokohama. Greenhouse gas emissions from food amount to a third of all human-caused emissions.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Jan 28, 2024

The complicated balance between health and climate in the Japanese diet

In Japan, people with higher-emitting diets also tend to eat healthier, raising questions for the health- and environment-conscious consumer.
The health ministry has adopted its first guidelines on alcohol consumption to raise awareness of its health risks.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 19, 2024

Japan draws up guidelines on alcohol consumption

The guidelines set out the amount of alcohol consumed that raises the risk of developing diseases, in a bid to encourage people to drink in moderation.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear