Christopher Mason

The strains of Ebola

Inside tiny Kikyo Health Centre nestled high in the Rwenzori Mountains of Uganda, a sheet on the office wall entitled “Weekly epidemiological cases,” tracks incoming patients. The list gives testimony to the challenges faced when a 10-bed facility with no doctor on staff has to cope with medical

Public–private health care delivery becoming the norm in Sweden

At first glance, the Sabbatsbergs Narsjukhus Hospital in central Stockholm is indistinguishable from the medical centres that together form the front line of Swedens vaunted health care system. Its facilities, offering specialized services but no emergency room, are busy with patients who appear

Delivering health care on US

Walking through the corridors of Ugandas largest hospital, Mulago, in Kampala, it is clear that standard yardsticks used to measure a countrys health care system do not tell the full story. ![Figure][1] The former British protectorate of Uganda gained independence in 1962. Image by:

19 per capita

Last year’s deadly listeriosis outbreak was largely caused by inadequate reporting requirements, insufficient coordination of government departments and a failure to properly communicate to Canadians how to minimize the risk of becoming sick, says a report released yesterday by an independent

Listeriosis probe identifies multiple deficiencies.

In the shade of a tree outside a special clinic for malnourished children, 20-year-old Ma-Kulah Turray reflects on how lucky her 6-month-old baby is to be alive. Fed only dry rice and water for his first few months, the child quickly became malnourished and was nearly dead by the time Turray

Reducing infant mortality rate a challenge in Liberia

When Israel began its “Operation Cast Lead” military campaign in the Gaza Strip on Dec. 27, 2008, the Gaza health care system was already crippled by underfunding and a border blockade that prevented needed medical supplies and personnel from entering the region. The health care system soon

Gaza's health care system crippled before — and after

Calling friends, checking email and playing games are par for the course for iPhone users. But few likely expect their iPhone to calculate cancer risks from medical exams such as computed tomography (CT) scans. That’s exactly what a fourth-year radiology resident at the University of Toronto in

Tracking radiology’s risks

Its all but become an unofficial Olympic sport: garnering gold by eluding doping authorities. Ever-craftier miscreants dabble in performance-boosting pharmaceuticals one step ahead of testing capabilities, leaving viewers to marvel at freakish athletes whose necks are wider than their heads and

Gold medals, vitamin V and miscreant sports

It is difficult to comprehend that some 75 000 people live on the tiny swath of land known as “West Point,” pinned between the Atlantic Ocean and the swampy banks of the Mesurado River in the downtown portion of Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia. In West Point, there are “too many”

Polluted waterways and physician shortages

When it comes to staffing levels at Bundibugyo District Hospital in western Uganda, the gap between the ideal and the reality is as jarring as the rough drive through the Rwenzori Mountains to reach the isolated community. Though government guidelines say the hospital should have 7 doctors, they