Poverty, disasters & health against all odds
[Fall 2013 Centennial issue] The most powerful influences on population health are not the medical interventions that diagnose and treat disease. Rather, they are the broad social forces—war or peace, poverty or financial security, political oppression or fundamental…
Harvard-organized conference in New Delhi focuses on gender justice
Leading lawmakers, police officials, and social activists met on July 12-13, 2013 in New Delhi, India for a conference on “Gender Justice and Criminal Law Reform” organized by the Harvard Gender Violence Project (HGVP), a collaboration between Harvard…
New safety measures needed to reduce gun violence
July 18, 2013 — Among developed countries, rates of violence are roughly similar. But in the United States, the chance of dying from a violent act exceeds that of other countries by a wide margin. It’s because of guns,…
Starting a Conversation
[ Spring 2013 ] To foster open discussion about the consequences of gun ownership, public health researchers want to know much more about the lure of guns. Why do people own guns in the first place? How do they perceive…
Politics & Beyond
[ Spring 2013 ] Gun violence is one of the most politically divisive issues in the United States--and this contentiousness has played out in government funding of research. In 1993, a study supported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control…
The Gun Shop Project
[ Spring 2013 ] In April 2009, over a five-day period, two young men and an older woman in New Hampshire each bought handguns from Riley's Sport Shop in Hooksett and within hours committed suicide. The victims did not know…
Guns & Suicide: The Hidden Toll
[ Spring 2013 ] Survivor profiles "He was struggling with nightmares." Emily Frazier's 21-year-old husband, Ryan Frazier, shot himself with a semiautomatic in November 2008, soon after bringing a lawsuit against a priest who had molested him during his teenage…
Guns & Suicide: The Hidden Toll
[ Spring 2013 ] Special Report by Madeline Drexler, Editor, Harvard Public Health There’s a gas station maybe a five-minute drive away from us, and the gas station sells guns. I didn’t realize places like that existed. Ryan just walked…
HSPH alumni and faculty part of Boston Marathon tragedy response
Harvard School of Public Health-affiliated physicians were among the hospital emergency department staff called upon to care for victims of the explosions at the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Stephanie Kayden, MPH ’06, was the senior physician…
Report finds states with highest gun violence have weakest gun laws
A report released April 2, 2013 by the Center for American Progress found that states with the highest rates of gun violence have the weakest gun laws. The findings reinforce those of previous studies, said Deborah Azrael, director…