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Shots - Health News
10:16 am
Tue October 16, 2012

At Polio's Epicenter, Vaccinators Battle Chaos And Indifference

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Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Kano, in northern Nigeria, has been called the "epicenter" of the current polio outbreak. This part of Nigeria is the only place in the world where polio cases are increasing.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
The emir of Kano state is the highest-ranking Muslim leader in northern Nigeria. Wada Mohamed Aliyu, seen here, is the emir's point man on polio. Local imams boycotted polio vaccination in 2003 and 2004, but now solidly support immunization.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
The small farming village of Minjibir, in northern Nigeria, has seen six cases of polio this year. Polio was eliminated from the Western Hemisphere in the early 1990s. It was stamped out in Europe a few years later.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Ado Ibrahim carries his son Aminu through the village of Minjibir in northern Nigeria. Aminu, 4, was paralyzed by polio in August.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Adamu Ali carries his 4-year-old son, Omar, who was stricken with polio earlier this year. They live in the village of Minjibir.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A polio immunization poster is taped on a walk-in refrigerator at a new cold storage facility at a hospital in Kano. The oral polio vaccine must be kept refrigerated; that's been a challenge in a place with only intermittent access to electricity.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A nurse at the health clinic in Minjibir prepares to distribute free bed nets to combat malaria. Campaigns like this one, which offers services for malaria, attract local residents to the clinic. While they're there, residents are encouraged to get their children vaccinated against polio.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
At the health clinic in Minjibir, women wait for their children to receive the polio vaccine.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Sahya Idriss, a service provider at the health clinic in Minjibir, carries a vial of the polio vaccine.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A child is vaccinated against polio at the Minjibir health clinic. The procedure, in which two drops of vaccine are pinched into a child's mouth, only takes a few seconds. Children should get at least three doses of the vaccine, spread out over time.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Hawa Bello, a social mobilization consultant with UNICEF in Kano, meets with community volunteers. The volunteers are given a small stipend to guide polio immunization teams through their individual neighborhoods. It's the volunteer's job to make sure every child under 5 in a given neighborhood gets vaccinated.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Men of all ages gather at a welding shop run by polio victims. The men make hand-cranked tricycles and customized motor scooters for people paralyzed by polio.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Sani Mohamed is a welder and mechanic at a shop run by polio victims in Kano.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A man naps at a scooter and tricycle shop run by polio victims in Kano.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A child crosses a bridge over the cement-lined Gogo stream, which flows behind the main market in Kano. Sanitation workers regularly test the sewage here for the presence of the polio virus.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Sahya Idriss, a service provider at the health clinic in Minjibir, carries a vial of the polio vaccine.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Ado Ibrahim carries his son Aminu through a village in northern Nigeria. Aminu was paralyzed by polio in August.
Credit Wikimedia Commons
The city of Kano has been called the epicenter of the current polio outbreak. It's located in the central part of northern Nigeria.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Wada Mohamed Aliyu is the representative for the emir of Kano state, the highest-ranking Muslim leader in the area. Local imams boycotted polio vaccination in 2003 and 2004, but they now solidly support immunization.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A child is immunized against polio at the health clinic in a farming village in northern Nigeria. The procedure involves pinching two drops of the vaccine into the child's mouth. For full protection, the child needs three doses, spaced out over time.
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Originally published on Thu November 1, 2012 1:16 pm

Polio was eliminated from the Western Hemisphere in the early 1990s. It was stamped out in Europe a few years later. And now, even the Congo and Somalia are polio free.

But in Africa's largest oil-producing nation, Nigeria, polio has been a difficult, contentious foe.

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Intelligence Squared U.S.
10:15 am
Tue October 16, 2012

Should We Ration End-Of-Life Care?

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Credit Samuel LaHoz
Sally Pipes and Ken Connor argue against the motion "Ration End-of-Life Care" in the latest Intelligence Squared U.S. debate.
Credit Samuel LaHoz
Peter Singer argues for the motion, "Ration End-of-Life Care."
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Originally published on Tue October 16, 2012 12:19 pm

  • Listen To The Full Audio Of The Debate
  • Listen To The Broadcast Version Of The Debate

As the presidential candidates make their cases to the nation, health care is taking up a lot of talking points. But one subject that's less likely to be debated forthrightly is end-of-life care.

A big driver of U.S. health care expenditure is what's spent in the last year of life. Those who argue in favor of rationing that care say the country cannot afford to provide unlimited health care — either the government or insurance companies have to ration end-of-life care as a policy response.

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Books
10:03 am
Tue October 16, 2012

'Test Kitchen' Chefs Talk The Science Of Savory

Credit Larry Crowe / AP
Jack Bishop is the editorial director at America's Test Kitchen, where every day a near army of professional chefs test, test, then retest recipes to arrive at the best possible result.
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Originally published on Tue October 16, 2012 1:22 pm

You might think that Bridget Lancaster and Jack Bishop — two of the culinary talents behind the public television shows America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country — would have their cooking techniques pretty much figured out. Think again.

For the new Cook's illustrated book The Science of Good Cooking, Bishop and Lancaster tested principles they assumed were true — and as Bishop tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross, "Things that we thought were actually accurate turned out to be, perhaps, more complex."

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It's All Politics
9:37 am
Tue October 16, 2012

In The Second Debate, It's All About The Counterpunch

Credit Stan Honda / AFP/Getty Images
Banners hang inside the media center amid preparations for tonight's presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.
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Originally published on Tue October 16, 2012 11:46 am

Tonight's presidential debate in New York is shaping up like an episode of the old game show To Tell the Truth: Will the real Barack Obama/Mitt Romney please stand up?

There are a lot of questions about what personas and strategies the two candidates will choose to adopt. Partisans on both sides argue that their man's opponent is a shape-shifter.

Democrats are convinced that part of the reason Romney won their first debate earlier this month is that he shamelessly lied about his own positions in tacking to the center.

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The Two-Way
9:10 am
Tue October 16, 2012

Second Female Marine Fails Grueling Infantry Officer Course

Credit Adek Berry / AFP/Getty Images
Female Marines unload their rifles after a patrol with Afghan soldiers in Helmand province in June. The Marine Corps leadership has started an experiment to determine whether female Marine lieutenants have what it takes to become infantry officers and lead on the battlefield.
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The second of two female Marines who tried to make it through the grueling Infantry Officer Course has failed due to medical reasons. The female volunteers are part of a study by the Marines to see if women can become ground combat leaders.

The Marines have not released the names of either woman, citing privacy concerns.

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