5/12/06

Thoughts on heatlhcare for May ,12th

Today is my dad's birthday. He likes to tell the story that he was born before the planned term because his mother had to run away from the fighting between the French army and the Malagasy independentists. So in honor of his birthday and the fact that healthcare is at the core of his life, here are a few thoughts on the state of health in the world:

Fighting viruses in Africa:

1) An apology that is a bit late but better than never: The Anglican Church in Kenya apologized for ostracizing AIDS/HIV patients as sinners and that AIDS is a curse from God. This attitude back then certainly did not help find solution to the problem but admitting earlier mistakes is a good start.
2) Here is an original to prevent Bird Flu pandemic from Abidjan. The "Bird Flu Dance": It was described as "chicken with Parkinson trying to dance hiphop". Hey at least it's not country line dancing and really, it cannot hurt the bird flu situation, can it ?

Matt Damon emails about the US cutting funds for AIDS in Africa:
"I just returned from a 7 day trip to South Africa and Zambia. What I saw changed my life. I want to tell you about my trip and let you know about billions of dollars in development assistance that is at risk this week....The biggest lesson I took home from the trip was that folks in these countries can turn things around if given the basic resources that we take for granted here every day. That's why I was shocked to learn from the ONE campaign that within the next 2 weeks the U.S. Senate is poised to slash billions of dollars from President Bush's plan to fight AIDS and poverty.This is an outrage - and it can be stopped.

America is sicker than UK
: the average white person in a certain socio-economic group pays $3000/year more in healthcare in US than UK. Stress seems to be the major factor. Huuum, I really don't see why it would be more stressful here: weather...? didn't think so....

Off-topic: 1) May 12th is also the birthday of 2 of the main actors in one of my favorite movie of all time, "the usual suspects": Gabriel Byrne and Stephen Baldwin. What are the odds of that ...Kaiser Soze?
2)I got an email from my little cousin back home: she used a phrase that I have never heard before but maybe I am just too old...."evidaoazy mazavament". That would be "Duh" here much shorter but not as cute.....
Have a great week-end !


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