Health experts agree the U.S. health care system needs an overhaul, as a way of shoring up the economy and U.S. competitiveness. But a battle is brewing over the president-elect's designs for a public-sponsored insurance plan.

A Council on Foreign Relations panel discussion on the presidential candidates' plans for taxes, health care, and tackling the financial crisis.

In this report, the RAND Corporation discusses psychological and cognitive injuries from war, their consequences, and services to assist recovery.

With the number of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans already at 1.6 million, soldiers’ advocates say a new U.S. health care crisis looms.  

The collection of essays focusing on different concerns about vaccine prioritization.

With the volume of illegal immigrants flowing across the U.S. border fueling an emotional debate in Washington, the impact of immigration policy on foreign health workers has been overshadowed.

The population of western Europe is aging steadily, and the region's birthrate is well below the replacement level, but Europe's elderly are exceptionally healthy. That means they could be more productive for longer than their predecessors were. If western European governments learn to tap this potential, healthy aging could become the region's next great economic asset.

In October 2006, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued this call for emergency food aid to North Korea to be maintained despite the country’s alleged nuclear test.

Niger's long-running cycle of drought threatens to cause a new round of food shortages affecting millions, world relief agencies warn. International agencies, donor states, and NGOs are debating a way to break a different cycle: treating poor African states as short-term crises rather than funding longer-term solutions.

A National Magazine Award nominee for excellence in Columns and Commentary, this article explains how Agent Orange has poisoned now a third generation.

The Congressional Research Service has updated its report on AIDS in Africa.

In a Wharton School paper, Grace Wong finds a negative and significant correlation between income and SARS incidence rates, while no similar relationship is found using education levels.

A report from Oxfam arguing that hunger in Africa is not inevitable. The report says that the world’s emergency response requires an overhaul so that it delivers prompt, equitable, and effective assistance to people suffering from lack of food. Oxfam also argues that governments need to tackle the root causes of hunger, which include poverty, agricultural mismanagement, conflict, unfair trade rules, and the unprecedented problems of HIV/AIDS and climate change.

While security remains the top concern, Iraq's new government must also confront the dearth of basic services, including water and electricity. Oil production, still below prewar levels, remains crucial to lifting the welfare of Iraqis.