This week's highlights in public health journalism from around the globe http://www.worldhealthnews.harvard.edu/#8may2013 Jonathan Rauch reports on end-of-life care in the U.S. "The U.S. medical system was built to treat anything that might be treatable, at any stage of life -- even near the end, when there is no hope of a cure, and when the patient, if fully informed, might prefer quality time and relative normalcy to all-out intervention...What should [take place is]...what is known in the medical profession as The Conversation. The momentum of medical maximalism should [slow]...long enough for a doctor or a social worker to sit down...explain, patiently and in plain English, [a patient’s]...condition...treatment options, [and] learn what...goals were for the [remaining] time...to establish how much and what kind of treatment [is]...really desired. Alas, evidence shows that The Conversation happens much less regularly than it should...Many doctors don’t make time for The Conversation, or aren’t good at conducting it (they’re not trained or rewarded for doing so), or worry their patients can’t handle it. This is a problem, because the assumption that doctors know what their patients want turns out to be wrong...Though no one knows for sure, unwanted treatment seems especially common near the end of life...Unwanted treatment is a particularly confounding problem because it is not a product of malevolence but a by-product of two strengths of American medical culture." http://www.worldhealthnews.harvard.edu/#sotw Thu, 9 May 2013 15:45:00 EDT Karen Herzog reports on cancer prevention and the push for vaccinations to stem HPV. "HPV-related head and neck cancers are growing exponentially... HPV [or human papillomavirus, is]...the most common sexually transmitted infection...Three times as many men as women get oropharyngeal cancer, because vaginal transmission during oral sex is the most common mode of transmission...A small percentage of people can't clear the virus and may develop problems...[even so,] increases in HPV-associated cancers are prompting more attention to vaccinating adolescents against HPV." http://www.worldhealthnews.harvard.edu/#cancer Thu, 9 May 2013 15:45:00 EDT Yang Jingjie reports on consumer safety and the new laws that China has implemented in the wake of food scandals. "The Supreme People's Court (SPC)...vowed to severely punish crimes related to food safety by unveiling more specific criteria in handing out sentences...Sun Jungong, spokesperson of the SPC, [said that China’s]...food safety situation is still 'very grave,' given that the number of criminal cases related to food safety has seen a significant rise over the past three years...the SPC and the Supreme People's Procuratorate...issued explanations that specify crimes related to food safety and set standards for the punishment for these crimes." http://www.worldhealthnews.harvard.edu/#consumer Thu, 9 May 2013 15:45:00 EDT