Health & Safety

Health & Safety

Encore: Examining a major part of China's aggressive 'zero-COVID' strategy

5:04am July 20, 2022

by John Ruwitch

Testing is the cornerstone of China's aggressive efforts to eradicate COVID-19. Even when it's not mandatory, it's still necessary. (Story aired on ATC on July 14, 2022.)

An image provided by the Environmental Protection Agency shows examples of a lead pipe, left, a corroded steel pipe, center, and a lead pipe treated with protective orthophosphate. The EPA is only now requiring water systems to take stock of their lead pi

'Time bomb' lead pipes will be removed. But first water utilities have to find them

5:01am July 20, 2022

by Allison Kite

Health experts warn problems with these "underground poisonous straws" can strike suddenly, and states are getting cash to replace them. But no one knows how many lines exist or where they are.

More than 91,000 people in the U.S. died from drug overdoses in 2020. There were sharp increases among certain racial groups, a new report finds.

Health & Safety

U.S. death toll from drug overdoses is rising fast among Black and Indigenous people

5:00am July 20, 2022

by Rhitu Chatterjee

Drug overdoses are killing more people than ever in the U.S., and a new CDC report finds growing racial disparities among those who have died — with the largest increase among Black Americans.

A kidney dish with syringes containing the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine sits in a refrigerator ready for use in February at a vaccination center in Prisdorf, Germany.

Health & Safety

The CDC endorses Novavax, a more traditional COVID vaccine, for adults

8:34pm July 19, 2022

by The Associated Press

Adults who haven't gotten any COVID-19 shots should consider the new option, the agency said Tuesday. The spike protein vaccine is more typical than the mRNA types being broadly used against COVID.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita was sent a "cease and desist" letter last week asking him to stop making what an attorney for Indiana abortion provider Dr. Caitlin Bernard describes as defamatory statements. Rokita's office responded that "no false o

Indiana's AG could face a lawsuit by the abortion provider for 10-year-old rape victim

6:16pm July 19, 2022

by Sarah McCammon

Dr. Caitlin Bernard has threatened to sue Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita for "false and misleading statements" he made after she provided a medication abortion for the girl from Ohio.

The future of abortion remains highly uncertain in Michigan. At the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the student health center has been preparing for all possible scenarios, from a complete statewide ban on abortion to less extreme changes.

Colleges navigate confusing legal landscapes as new abortion laws take effect

6:09pm July 19, 2022

With abortion access changing in many states, college health centers are trying to understand their rights and responsibilities when counseling students who become pregnant.

Queue Listen Now

How to talk to your kids about abortion

4:43pm July 19, 2022

How do you talk about abortion — both the medical procedure and the politics around it — with your kids? NPR's Ailsa Chang gets tips from Dr. Elise Berlan and parenting expert Reena Patel.

The U.S. birth rate went up in 2021. Here, a baby is seen in a hospital in McAllen, Texas in 2020.

The 2021 rise in U.S. births is likely a baby blip, not a boom

2:29pm July 19, 2022

by Bill Chappell

The U.S. birth rate has been trending downwards over the past 15 years — so the news that the number of births actually rose in 2021 is making headlines.

Testing capacity for monkeypox is being rapidly expanded.

Monkeypox keeps spreading. Here's what authorities are doing to stop it

1:40pm July 19, 2022

by Ari Shapiro

Public health experts know what it takes to control a disease outbreak: access to testing and vaccines. But in the last two months of the monkeypox outbreak, the response has not met the need.

Queue Listen Now

Ana Elsy Ramirez Diaz holds her baby as he is seen by Dr. Margaret-Anne Fernandez during a checkup visit at INOVA Cares Clinic for Children in Falls Church, Va. A portion of the clinic's patients are insured through the Children's Health Insurance Program

Millions of kids qualify for Medicaid. Biden funds outreach to boost enrollment

1:05pm July 19, 2022

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

More than half of uninsured kids qualify for free coverage but don't know it. The government has released $49 million to get the word out, especially as the end of the COVID health emergency looms.