Free Republic

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju donated medicine from their “family” stash to help stem a new intestinal disease outbreak in the southern city of Haeju, according to state media. The outbreak is occurring in South Hwanghae Province, the country’s “rice bowl” and a region authorities have highlighted in recent weeks for fighting a drought that could threaten national food production this year. The report in Thursday’s Rodong Sinmun marks the second time Kim has been said to donate his personal medicines to those in need in recent months, as state propagandists have played...

Health is more than influenza Luc Bonneux b & Wim Van Damme c b. Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute, Postbus 11650, The Hague 2502 AR, Netherlands (e-mail: bonneux@nidi.nl). c. Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2011;89:539-540. doi: 10.2471/BLT.11.089086 The repeated pandemic health scares caused by an avian H5N1 and a new A(H1N1) human influenza virus are part of the culture of fear.1–3 Worst-case thinking replaced balanced risk assessment. Worst-case thinking is motivated by the belief that the danger we face is so overwhelmingly catastrophic that we must act immediately. Rather than wait for information, we...