HPH Weekly: Is alcohol good or bad for you? Yes.

This edition of Harvard Public Health Weekly was sent to our subscribers on August 23, 2024. If you don’t already receive the newsletter, subscribe here. To see more past newsletters, visit our archives.

Is alcohol good or bad for you? Yes.

Headlines on alcohol, like the one you just read, are everywhere these days—and they’re far from capturing the nuance of alcohol’s relationship to health. So say Eric B. Rimm and Kenneth Mukamal, two scientists who have been studying alcohol for a long time, and believe they (and others!) need to keep studying it even longer.

The battle against tuberculosis will be won or lost in India

In 2023, India was home to more than 25 percent of the world’s TB infections and 17 percent of its TB-related deaths. Experts say the country’s fight against the disease could have been a model for the rest of the globe. Instead, they now say the government’s 2025 goal to reduce TB infections by 90 percent is unachievable.

A new intervention to get Hispanic women on PrEP treatment

Latinas make up 17 percent of U.S. women, but 21 percent of those living with HIV. PrEP could help, but data shows the treatment isn’t widely used by people in the Hispanic population. A new intervention by scientist nurses in South Florida could change that.

Snapshot: Suddenly, many U.S. yards have too much lead

This year, the EPA cut its maximum lead level in soil by half. Researchers estimate one in four U.S. households has lead levels above the new standard.

What we’re reading this week

Black hospitals vanished in the U.S. decades ago. Some communities have paid a price →
NPR

Big Tobacco was forced to stop marketing ‘low tar’ cigarettes. In China, sales are booming. →
The Examination

The magic poop potion →
Narratively

Decrepit pipes put Jackson, Mississippi, on the edge of catastrophe. State regulators didn’t act. →
ProPublica

Native American public health officials are stuck in data blind spot →
KFF Health News