Labeling the Danger in Soda

It's unusual for health programs to find it financially beneficial to send a home visitor regularly to help patients. But medical programs in various parts of the United States are experimenting with using peer groups to help people stick to their treatment plans, and it is working.

If rich people need life insurance, poor people need it more. Here’s how millions of poor people are getting it – including people with AIDS.

The mobile phone is doing more than revolutionizing communication. It has the potential to improve many aspects of life in poor countries: commerce, health, agriculture, education - public health, especially, is being revolutionized by governments taking advantage of the mobile revolution by texting advice or sending voice messages to pregnant women, texting reminders to AIDS patients to take their meds, tracking the spread of diseases, allowing community health workers to keep records electronically and variations on all these themes.

The Bronx is working to solve obesity by turning to healthy eating in a society where fast food is cheaper and of greater quantity. It turns out that increasing access to fruits and vegetables, which the Bronx has done, makes no difference in whether or not people actually eat it - but one resident may have the answer.

We know how to prevent diabetes - but the U.S, medical system, with its twisted priorities, doesn’t cover prevention. A new program at the YMCA aims to build structured, effective prevention measures.

The best way to lose weight is to join a small group. This article looks at the case study of Saddleback Church in southern California that mixed faith and peer support to help congregates lose weight, including the pastor. Surveys found that 72% of participants lost weight as a result of the program.

Programs to get fresh produce carts to areas with no access to healthy food work best when government and determined entrepreneurs team up. Success from this model is evident in New York City, where the city has incentivized the selling of fruits and vegetables by street vendors in areas that are in the most need of the produce.

While weight loss can be challenging to maintain, different structures are being created to help. Certain support groups, financial incentives, and tough love are proving to be effective.

With child obesity on the rise, public school students have lacked the motivation and access to eat healthy food. Different programs around the country aim to improve student diet in public schools, including Real Eats for Academics and Life in Los Angeles and Cornell’s Smarter Lunchrooms Movement, by emailing nutrition report cards to parents, presenting the healthy food with aesthetic pleasure, and the arrangement of the food for access.

In S. King County, Wash., the organization Global to Local identified Seattle's ironic status as being a global-health center but having an increasingly unhealthy populace. Global to Local pointed local citizens to a variety of services, using a "connect the dots" approach to treatment.