Tag Archives: Children and Childhood

Bill Gates Explains His Plans to Close the Gates Foundation in 2045

Bill Gates Explains His Plans to Close the Gates Foundation in 2045

Donald Trump is the face of these cuts, but the cruelty of his administration is not the only story. After leaping upward in the 2000s, global giving for health grew very slowly through the 2010s. The culture of philanthropy has changed somewhat, too, with the age of the Giving Pledge — in which hundreds of the world’s richest people promised …

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The Surprising Ways That Siblings Shape Our Lives

The Surprising Ways That Siblings Shape Our Lives

Joshua Goodman, an associate professor of education and economics at Boston University, found a similarly striking effect at the college level. Goodman looked at a data set of students whose SAT scores were right on the margin of a cutoff point established for admission to what he called “target colleges.” The candidates were essentially equivalent, with scores that differed by …

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Autism Rate Continues to Rise Among Children, C.D.C. Reports

Autism Rate Continues to Rise Among Children, C.D.C. Reports

The percentage of American children estimated to have autism spectrum disorder increased in 2022, continuing a long-running trend, according to data released on Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among 8-year-olds, one in 31 were found to have autism in 2022, compared with 1 in 36 in 2020. That rate is nearly five times as high as …

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The Many Ways Kennedy Is Already Undermining Vaccines

The Many Ways Kennedy Is Already Undermining Vaccines

During his Senate confirmation hearings to be health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. presented himself as a supporter of vaccines. But in office, he and the agencies he leads have taken far-reaching, sometimes subtle steps to undermine confidence in vaccine efficacy and safety. The National Institutes of Health halted funding for researchers who study vaccine hesitancy and hoped to find …

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Experts Doubt Kennedy’s Timetable for Finding the Cause of Autism

Experts Doubt Kennedy’s Timetable for Finding the Cause of Autism

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, pledged on Thursday to seek out experts globally to discover the reasons for the increasing rates of autism in the United States. “We’ve launched a massive testing and research effort that’s going to involve hundreds of scientists from around the world,” Mr. Kennedy announced at a cabinet meeting held by President Trump. …

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Kennedy Offers Qualified Support for Measles Vaccination

Kennedy Offers Qualified Support for Measles Vaccination

In a rare sit-down interview with CBS News, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, recommended the measles vaccine and said he was “not familiar” with sweeping cuts to state and local public health programs. The conversation was taped shortly after his visit to West Texas, where he attended the funeral of an 8-year-old girl who died after contracting …

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Who Will Care for Infants With H.I.V. Overseas?

Who Will Care for Infants With H.I.V. Overseas?

The Trump administration has dismissed the few remaining health officials who oversaw care for some of the world’s most vulnerable people: more than 500,000 children and more than 600,000 pregnant women with H.I.V. in low-income countries. Expert teams that managed programs meant to prevent newborns from acquiring H.I.V. from their mothers and to provide treatment for infected children were eliminated …

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RFK Jr. to Kick Off MAHA Tour on Fighting Chronic Disease

RFK Jr. to Kick Off MAHA Tour on Fighting Chronic Disease

A day after attending the funeral of an unvaccinated child who died of measles, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will kick off a tour through Southwestern states on Monday, spotlighting initiatives that emphasize nutrition and lifestyle choices as tools for combating disease. The Make America Healthy Again tour, which will take Mr. Kennedy through parts of Utah, Arizona and …

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A Second Child Dies of Measles in Texas

A Second Child Dies of Measles in Texas

The measles crisis in West Texas has claimed the life of another child, the second death in an outbreak that has burned through the region and infected dozens of residents in bordering states. The eight-year-old girl died of “measles pulmonary failure” at a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, according to records obtained by The New York Times. It is the second …

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Why Measles Outbreaks May Be the New Normal

Why Measles Outbreaks May Be the New Normal

As the Trump administration moves to dismantle international public health safeguards, pull funding from local health departments and legitimize health misinformation, some experts now fear that the country is setting the stage for a long-term measles resurgence. If federal health officials do not change course, large multistate outbreaks like the one that has torn through West Texas, jumping to neighboring …

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