Dear Colleague,

The events of the last few months have been stunning to watch.

·            The political uprisings in the countries of the Middle East have revealed the oppressive and destructive nature of many of the regimes there, as well as the lack of unifying political philosophy or identity with the power to bring people together. 

·            The 2011 tornado season spawned over 450 tornadoes and ranked the worst in history, serving as a vivid reminder of the awe inspiring power of nature when flows of air, temperature and water interact as a result of the changing climate. 

·            Osama bin Laden is gone despite the deniers who have now so clearly demonstrated their great distrust of media and the United States with their refusal to accept the reality of the assassination. 

·            The steady drumbeat of opposition to President Obama shows us again the manipulative nature of conservative media empires and subsidized propaganda.  This conservative media seeks to push the U.S. population as far to the right as possible, in order to generate support for freewheeling corporations that earn tremendous profits for their executives and deposit U.S. dollars wherever in the world they can return the largest profit with the lowest cost of investment.  Half the dollars that are not collected as U.S. taxes are invested overseas, especially in developing economies.  And yet, the public is often convinced that lower taxes are beneficial to all Americans and higher taxes are an affront to private property.

With this array of trends laid out before us, where does a mere public health professional invest effort to get a reasonable return in better health outcomes?  I would be interested in knowing your views.  You can send letters on this topic for our next Newsletter.  Please send to me (monasarfaty@yahoo.com) and I will forward. I look forward to seeing some of you at the Mid-Year Meeting on Health Reform.

Sincerely,

Mona Sarfaty MD, MPH, Chair of the Medical Care Section