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Study of the coverage of three influenza pandemics examined the social construction of influenza over time. Applying three broad frames to 835 New York Times articles, the study demonstrated that the social construction of influenza did change over time, and that these changes were reflected in public-health policy frames. This research demonstrates how the popularization of science changed the social construction of disease in America.

This paper looks at the recent challenges to the confidentiality of the status of HIV patients in Botswana, the country with the highest rate of infection in the world. The nature & scope as well as the legal & ethical basis of confidentiality are examined. It is argued that this concept is not only an aspect of the fundamental human rights of patients but is also crucial in any effective strategy to halt the spread of the virus by encouraging voluntary disclosure, which should help in eliminating the stigma, ostracism, & discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS. Although widely recognized as sacrosanct, confidentiality has never been an absolute principle. The derogations to it reflect a compromise, which balances the patient's right to his privacy & confidence, & the protection of persons exposed to the risk of infection by the patient. Therefore, it is argued that any radical measures that undermine the principle of confidentiality will discourage rather than encourage the candor that is essential in controlling the spread of the HIV virus. 1 Picture. Adapted from the source document.

Although most sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are not as lethal as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), these silent pandemics can no longer be viewed as temporary social & medical problems easily curable by scientific research, but rather, as a serious problem that requires constant attention. It is argued that all STDs should be classified as research & health priorities by health organizations worldwide. 13 References. Adapted from the source document.

For the Plains Indians, the period from 1750 to 1890, often referred to as the traditional period, was an evolutionary time. Horses and firearms, trade goods, shifting migration patterns, disease pandemics, and other events associated with extensive European contact led to a peak of Plains Indian influence and success in the early nineteenth century. Ironically, that same European contact ultimately led to the devolution of traditional Plains Indian society, and by 1870 most Plains Indian peoples were living on reservations

The economic phenomenon of "globalization" has broadly affected the health care industry and the medical profession in the late 20th century. Governmental and private sector managed care reach is expanding globally, as patients are "ecuritized" and traded as covered lives. Arbitrage of health care goods and services is creating commoditization effects, including trans‐border parallel markets (i.e. black markets). Consumers and governments are becoming concerned about privacy issues and product standardization, while Third World challenges remain in the public health realm (i.e., infectious pandemics, sanitation, nutrition and overpopulation).

A range of international human rights instruments, declarations and resolutions affirm that good health is a precondition for the enjoyment of all other human rights and for participation in socio-economic and political life. However, many people across the globe (especially in Africa and Asia) lack access to essential medicine. This article argues that access to medication, treatment and care is an essential element of effective responses to pandemics and other diseases. In particular, it is argued that international law imposes a minimum core (and non-derogable) obligation on states to provide essential medicine. In recognition of the increasing role that private actors are playing in ensuring access to essential medicine, their human rights obligations relating to access to essential medicine are also explored.

As late as the 1970s, conventional wisdom in epidemiology held that communicable diseases were on their way out as the predominant contributor to the world's morbidity profile, and were being replaced by noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) comprising degenerative diseases such as diabetes, circulatory disorders and cancers, and by accidents. Except for the developing countries, most of the rest of the world was already experiencing this so-called "epidemiological transition" from the terrible epoch of famines and pestilence that lasted from the dawn of mankind to the middle of this millenium, followed by the age of epidemics that culminated with the influenza pandemics of the earlier part of this century, to the prevailing situation since the 70s where diseases largely due to changed lifestyles — lack of exercise, high-fat diet, smoking and other substance abuses — predominate.

Fighting communicable diseases such HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB, and malaria has become a global endeavor, with international health authorities urging the development of effective vaccines for the eradication of these global pandemics. Yet, despite the acknowledged urgency, and given the feasibility of effective vaccine development, public and private research efforts have failed to address a response adequate to the magnitude of the crisis. Members of the academic community suggest bridging this gap by devising research pull mechanisms capable of stimulating private investments, confident that competition‐based market devices are more effective than public intervention in shaping scientific breakthroughs. With reference to the economics of innovation, the paper argues that, whilst such an approach would lead to a socially suboptimal production of knowledge, direct public intervention in vaccine R&D activities would represent a far more socially desirable policy option. In recognition of the current financial and political fatigue affecting the international community towards communicable disease control, the paper resorts to the theories of global public goods (GPGs) to provide governments, both in the North and in the South, with a powerful rationale for committing to a cooperative approach for vaccine R&D. The paper encourages the creation of a Global Health Research Fund to manage such exercise and proposes enshrining countries' commitments into an International Health Treaty. The paper ends by providing a number of policy recommendations.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Influenza is associated with an average of 36,000 deaths and more than 200,000 hospitalizations each year in the United States. Persons aged 65 and older are involved in more than 9 of 10 deaths and 1 of 2 hospitalizations related to influenza. The best way to prevent influenza is to be vaccinated each fall. In the 2000-01 flu season, and again in the 2003-04 flu season, this country experienced periods when the demand for flu vaccine exceeded the supply, and there is concern about the availability of vaccines for this and future flu seasons. There is also concern about the prospect of a worldwide influenza epidemic, or pandemic, which many experts believe to be inevitable. Three influenza pandemics occurred in the twentieth century. Experts estimate that the next pandemic could kill up to 207,000 people in the United States and cause major social disruption. Public health experts have raised concerns about the ability of the nation's public health system to respond to an influenza pandemic. GAO was asked to discuss issues related to supply, demand, and distribution of vaccine for a regular flu season and assess the federal plan to respond to an influenza pandemic. GAO based this testimony on products it has issued since October 2000, as well as work it conducted to update key information."