Insights

<p>A <a href="http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=…; today out of Nigeria had me thinking about my interview with <a href="/blogs/qa-father-william-cleary-taking-confessions-and-checking-vaccinations-nigeria">Father William Cleary</a> last month.</p>

<p>A new <a href="http://www.healthnews.com/family-health/child-health/unvaccinated-child…; released in the Journal <em>Pediatrics</em> has confirmed what many of us in public health already knew: children whose parents refuse to have them vaccinated are more likely to get and spread pertussis. Some people are likely to say so what. Is pertussis really that common or serious? The answer to both those questions is yes.</p>

<p>This isn't yet posted on the California Department of Public Health <a href="http://www.cdph.ca.gov/Pages/default.aspx">website</a&gt;, but officials just alerted reporters that a Contra Costa County child has died from swine flu. Here's information from the release. ReportingonHealth also has a <a href="/resources/lessons/swine-flu-useful-resources">helpful guide</a> to covering the current swine flu outbreak. </p>

<p>When choosing doctors, people like to know the answers to a few basic questions. </p><p>"Do they have the right amount of experience?"</p><p>"Are they conveniently located?" </p><p>"Do they accept my insurance?"</p><p>Somewhere above, "Do they stock <a href="http://www.popularmechanics.com/">Popular Mechanics</a> in the lobby?" and below "Did they go to medical school?" might be these questions:</p><p>"Do they abuse drugs?"</p><p>"Are they honest?"</p>

<p>The first seminar of the California Broadcast Fellowship this weekend elicited debate on many health-related topics. But the future of news -- how multimedia and Twitter alongside shrinking newsroom budgets are changing what it means to be a journalist -- created some of the most robust conversations.</p><p>Here are remarks from a few of the fellows to get an online conversation going -- you can add to the discussion by commenting here or by participating in the <a href="/community/forum">Reporting on Health forums</a>.</p>

<p>Two new swine flu developments today remind us that this pandemic is still very much with us, despite its near-absence lately in the mainstream media. Reuters <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/middleeastCrisis/idUSN01480382">reports<…; that H1N1 cases have been confirmed in all 50 states and that more than 10,000 people have been infected with the virus (you can check out the U.S. Centers for Disease Control's official state-by-state count <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/update.htm">here</a&gt;).

<p>Don't you want to help this woman out?</p><p></p><p><i>Renata Celona lost both of her parents at a young age, victims of high blood pressure, the second leading preventable cause of death. </i></p><p></p><p><i>She checks her blood pressure at least once a day, avoids salt and tries to squeeze in trips to the gym between working two jobs and raising three kids on her own.</i></p><p></p><p><i>"I tell my kids that I am always going to be there for them," Celona, 47, says. "Even if I can't always pick them up from school, they know I will be tucking them into bed at night." </i></p><p></p>

<p>What happens when 20 health journalists walk in to a convenience store in downtown Los Angeles and ask about buying tetracycline without a prescription?</p>

<p><a href="http://www.capradio.org/programs/bios/biodetail.aspx?bioid=77">Kelley Weiss</a>, a health care reporter at Capital Public Radio in Sacramento, is one of this year's California Broadcast fellows. For her report, <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93065914">L.A. Takes On Prescription Drug Swaps</a>, she reported on a thriving black market for prescription drugs from abroad and accompanied a team from the multi-department Health Authority Law Enforcement (HALT) Task Force to collect illegal pharmaceuticals.</p>

<p>According to a <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/Adults-and-Social-Network-Websi… Internet and American Life social networking survey</a>, 35% of online adults had profiles on social networking sites in 2008, compared to 8% in 2005. Online social networking is still a "phenomenon of the young" for how ubiquitous Facebook and MySpace is among 18 to 24 year-olds, but 35% of adults overall have profiles on networking sites. African-American and Hispanic adults are more likely to have profiles than whites adults.</p>