React & Respond

Small Data

Time spent on feature articles from the summer 2017 issue, by device:

UNITED IN DISCOVERY

Every year, people talk about the threat of different serious and emerging diseases, but what about real action? It seems like we’ll need hundreds of years to solve all these problems, but we can make some progress. I hope Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health will help unite people all over the world to work toward making important discoveries in public health.

Sarah Baranowski / Via Magazine Comments

FUNDING SUCCESS

For a country like Bangladesh, the SoLiD project [“Troubled Waters,” Summer 2017] is an important intervention for reducing drowning and other injuries children are prone to when their mothers are busy with household chores. As a former implementer of the project, I encourage donors to fund such lifesaving, cost-effective interventions. Hopkins has supported child health in Bangladesh for a long time; in its research, policy and practice, Hopkins extends its efforts and achieves greater sustainability through collaboration. I hope that as evidence of programs’ effectiveness grows, so will the development efforts that support them.

Mohammad Islam / Via Magazine Comments

RX FOR RESPONSIBILITY

Is America at the point of fingerprint prescription dispensing [“Human Touch,” Summer 2017]? Apparently this is the case, given the number of people addicted to opioid medications and the number of related deaths. Prescription responsibility lies with the medical community and the individual.

Sylvia Hartness Williams / Via Magazine Comments

MORE EVIDENCE, PLEASE

It’s interesting to note that Marc Fishman in Open Source states the supervised-injection solution is “unconventional, unproven and problematic,” [“Should supervised drug-consumption spaces be used to address the opioid/heroin epidemic?” Summer 2017] yet there are four other voices who cite studies that show it is not unproven. He implies “unconventional” is bad. But why? Also, why is this solution “problematic?” He doesn’t provide a solid argument for his conclusions.

Ward Sorrick / Via Magazine Comments