The Continental Times

Last week, CUNY Baruch College held a Blood Drive to help those who need transfusions. The Blood Drive was held from 11 AM to 5PM both days. The Blood Drive was sponsored by The New York Blood Center.  Established in 1964, The New York Blood Center receives more than 2000 volunteers a day. Staff and volunteers are hard at work to save lives every day and deliver blood to over 200 locations which include hospitals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The NYBC holds over 50 blood drives a day in various neighborhoods in New York and New Jersey to help those in need. The blood donations they receive go to more than 20 million people in New York, New Jersey and elsewhere. And this time, NYBC decided to hold a blood drive at Baruch as one of their many many blood drives for those two days. One person, who was donating blood at the time (prefers to be anonymous), had a few things to say about his experience. He said that the process was “quick and relatively painless.” He also said, ” It makes me feel good to know that I was able to save a life today and The New York Blood Center really cares for those in need, which also made me happy.” For more information for future events, visit the NYBC website in the link below.

http://nybloodcenter.org/

Image Courtesy of lions4wellness.weebly.com

Obesity has been a concern in the US now for a number of years. The prevalence of obesity can not be ignored with statistics as well as movies, such as “Super Size Me” providing ample coverage for obesity. However, obesity should not be called a disease for any reason what so ever. One of the arguments that physicians use to classify obesity as a disease is that “people do not have full control over their weight”. I’d argue that they do indeed. It is a person’s choice what they want to eat, and when that person insists on eating McDonald’s for a week, then that person should know the consequences of his/her actions. Obesity also has a very shaky definition. Some physicians define obesity as a BMI of at least 30, but that makes no sense since there are people who are physically healthy who have a BMI of at least 30, athletes for example. If obesity has an unclear definition and is within one’s control, what makes the AMA think they can slap obesity onto a list of diseases that have fixed definitions and can’t be within one’s control, such as breast cancer, pneumonia or sepsis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/19/business/ama-recognizes-obesity-as-a-disease.html

Retrieved from blog site: http://bloggersagainstsocialinjustice.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-price-of-health-organ-trafficking.html

In the article “5 Are Convicted in Kosovo Organ Trafficking”, it was reported that Kosovo, a country in Europe, had connections to a organ trafficking network that sold organs to countries such as the U.S, Germany, Israel, and more. An organ can actually sell for “as much as $130,000 each”; that’s how desperate people are to get their hands on human organs. One tactic that traffickers used to trick people into selling their organs was that they “promised money up to $26,000 to poor people” and persuaded them to travel to Kosovo to donate an organ. These people were also convinced to sign fake documents that stated that they were donating their organs to their relatives, when in reality; they were selling their organs to this huge organ trafficking network. Also, besides the everyday people you’d expect to be involved in organ trafficking, there were several doctors that were involved in this as well. One particular case of organ trafficking that is discussed in this article is about the discovery of a young Turkish man at the Pristina airport, weak and frail, telling police that “one of his kidneys had been stolen”. Through this discovery, the police were able to trace where his missing organ went, to an elderly man from Israel. Organ trafficking is a severe issue that leads to the kidnapping of people, particularly orphans, removing their organs, and dumping their lifeless bodies in the middle of nowhere for others to find. This horrible act doesn’t just occur in America; it also happens in international countries such as Pristina, Kosovo. Overall, organ traffickers go through great lengths to steal human organs from people and sell them to make their profit.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/world/europe/in-kosovo-5-are-convicted-in-organ-trafficking.html

iStock. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/1d3FG9j

The HIV/AIDS epidemic, as mentioned in “The AIDS Epidemic Can Be Ended,” has been an international health issue for the past three decades.  The lack of a cure has led to an extensive increase in the number of people infected with the virus or disease.  Hope for an end to this epidemic is little as many nations continue to deny those groups with the highest risk of becoming infected—sex workers, men who have sex with men, drug users and transgender—access to health services that may prevent the disease.  Because of the discrimination of these groups in certain countries, including Russia and sub-Saharan nations, the people are afraid to seek medical attention fearing punishment from the government.  There is a lack of needle exchange programs in many nations to provide injecting drug users with clean needles to prevent the transmission of the infection.   Also, many countries have deemed homosexuality illegal and have denied homosexuals their rights, so these people are not allowed to receive medical treatment that may prevent the infection.  Ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic begins with governmental officials ending discrimination against the mentioned groups and granting them their rights so that they may be treated equally and receive necessary health services to lower their chances of contracting this infection.

(Image courtesy of: http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2013/10/09/obamacares-biggest-problem-emerges/)

This article, Lower Health Care Premiums to Come at Cost of Fewer Choices by Robert Pear, was about how health insurances will offer premiums at lower prices under President Obama’s new law with a drawback. Many companies fail to mention why they are changing their prices and that is because they are severely limiting choices of doctors and hospitals sponsored that are available to consumers. So, in many of the states, companies are driving their premiums down and limiting options for doctors and hospitals. According to the article, consumers should be ready for harder and more limited options to make next time they go to renew their plans as the health insurance companies are losing their commercial influence with the effect of Obamacare. As a result, House Republicans and Tea Party Members are trying to repeal the bill because this marks a significant drop in the business of health care. This also means that consumers will have to pay higher out-of-pocket expenses and make longer drives to hospitals and such to get their treatment. Whatever it may be, it signifies a great change in the business of healthcare.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/health/lower-health-insurance-premiums-to-come-at-cost-of-fewer-choices.html