The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "global health" ...
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Dangers in the Dust: Inside the Global Asbestos Trade
The investigation finds that a global network of industry groups has spent nearly $100 million to keep asbestos on the market. Public health authorities say this campaign is helping create new epidemics of asbestos-related disease in countries around the world.
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Miracle Machines
"A Seattle Times investigation uncovered a global network of manufacturers who sell unproven devices, and practitioners who prey on unsuspecting patients. Capitalizing on weak government oversight, they have used these devices - some illegal, others potentially dangerous - to drain patients' bank accounts, misdiagnose diseases, and divert critically ill people from life-saving care."
Tags: medical cures; energy medicine; energy devices; medical-device; PAP-IMI; health-care professionals;
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Gates Foundation Investigation
LA Times examined which companies the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invested in to see if those companies matched the foundation's ideals. The Times found that "about 41% o the foundation's investments (excluding government bonds and loaned investments), were in companies whose activities end o run directly counter to the foundation's philanthropic goals or high-minded philosophy."
Tags: Bill Gates; Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; non profits; charities; investments; global health; housing instability; Berkshire Hathaway Corp.; Warren Buffett
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Exporting Faith
The Boston Globe used "a complete raw database of all USAID awards (prime contracts, grants and agreements) obligated from FY 2001 to FY 2005" to investigate the results of President Bush's Executive Orders that "created the faith based initiative and relaxed federal regulations for religious groups using government funds that once sought to protect church-state separations." The series shows that the percentage of USAID awards going to ngo faith based organizations in 2005 was almost doubled the percentage in 2001, from 10.5% to 19.9%. This creates the potential for problems where aid recipients "might forgo assistance because they don't share in the religion of the provider."
Tags: separation of church and state; faith-based initiatives; foreign aid; executive orders; church-state ties; White House Office of Faith and Community Based Initiatives; President Bush; USAID; NGO; Christian evangelicals; Kenya; Angola; Pakistan; Focus on the Family; James Dobb; FOIA; UNICEF; UNDP; State Department; Samaritan's Purse; National Association of Evangelicals; Americans United for Separation of the Church and State; Global Health Outreach; Offfice of Volunteers for Prosperity; Youth for Christ; World Vision; Yellowbook;
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Global Apartheid
The Nation looks at the AIDS pandemic fueled by unequal access to medical care, and by social and economic conditions. The article reveals that Bush administration and the corporate interests of the giant American pharmaceutical companies prevents Africans from receiving lifesaving AIDS treatment. The author points out that African countries are "forced to give priority to paying illegitimate foreign debts over making investment in public health."
Tags: HIV; AIDS; patents; international political economy; politics; United Nations; pharmaceuticals; racism; World Health Organization
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Labor Movement: Shortage of Nurses Hits Hardest Where They are Needed the Most
The Wall Street Journal reports on the shortage of nurses in Ghana, Africa. "More than 500 left the country last year, most to take higher-paying jobs in wealthy countries. Nurses in Ghana, a poor country, earn about $75 a month. Last year's departures were nearly triple the 1999 total and more than double the number of nursing graduates Ghana produced in 2000." Furthermore, "the global flow of nurses, from poor to rich lands, reflects the way talent today goes to the highest bidder, regardless of national borders. This rewards talented people, of course, but adds to the problems of health-care systems in many poor nations."
Tags: nurses; medical; American Nurses Association; recruiters; hospitals; earnings; doctors; health care
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AIDS Epidemic Traps Drug Firms in a Vise: Treatment vs. Profits
Wall Street Journals examines the controversies involved in the protection of the patents rights of American pharmaceutical companies abroad. The story details the legal battle of drug manufacturers against a South African law, under which the country "can import cheap, generic versions of patented medicines - including powerful new drugs for treating AIDS - without permission from the patent owner." The report describes the desire of drug companies "to be seen as helping fight the global AIDS crisis" vs. their two main fears - "if the South Africa law is allowed to stand, other countries will be emboldened to pursue similar legislation," and if "poor countries are allowed to buy low-priced drugs, American consumers will demand the same." It also reveals that the "U.S. government is no longer standing firmly behind" the drug companies, although the industry has spent about $ 80 million "to help elect president Bush and a Republican Congress."
Tags: U.S. Trade Representative; health; medicine; HIV. AIDS; Medicines Act; patents; intellectual property; WTO
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What a Thousand Years (and more) Have Wrought
Amicus gives an overview of the effects industrialization had on the climate, the water, the land, the health and other living beings. The study gives a wealth of information, supported by infographics, on the depleting natural resources of earth.
Tags: global warming; atmosphere; pollution; tropical forests; pesticide use
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The Global Willowbrook
The story documents a small organization called Mental Disability Rights International, which travels worldwide to document the treatment of the mentally disabled. The group's aim is to get the U.S., European nations, the U.N. and the World Bank to include the care of mental patients among the other human rights when considering foreign aid and trade decisions.
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Patient Crisis at VGH
Global News Vancouver "looked for the effect of government cutbacks in public health care and found British Columbia's largest hospital, Vancouver General, has deteriorated to such a point that patient care is in jeopardy. Our investigative series convinced patients, nurses and top doctors to blow the whistle on the dismal conditions and raised concerns about management of the hospital