Author: TheConversation

By Sharif A Wahab, PhD Candidate, Indiana University The number of people forced from their homes, primarily because of conflict or climate change, is on the rise, topping 100 million people in 2022 – more than double the number of displaced people in 2012. About a third of those 100 million people are refugees. Refugees live in a legal limbo that can increasingly stretch for decades. And the number of people remaining refugees for five years or longer more than doubled over the past decade, topping 16 million in 2022. These are people who do not have a clear...

By Jennifer R. Grandis, Distinguished Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of California, San Francisco If you work at a company, university or large organization, you have probably sat through a required training session meant to fight gender and racial discrimination in the workplace. Employers increasingly invest in efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion, commonly referred to as DEI policies. Yet research shows these efforts often fail to address the implicit biases that often lead to discrimination. I am a professor and a physician who has been working in university settings for over 30 years. I also...

By Sydney Hartman-Munick, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, UMass Chan Medical School The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with worsening mental health among teens, including increasing numbers of patients with eating disorders. In fact, research indicates that the number of teens with eating disorders at least doubled during the pandemic. This is particularly concerning given that eating disorders are among the most deadly of all mental health diagnoses, and teens with eating disorders are at higher risk for suicide than the general population. While experts do not know exactly why eating disorders develop, studies show that body dissatisfaction and desire...

By Christine Nguyen, 2023 California Health Equity Fellow, University of Southern California In the past two decades, children have become more obese and have developed obesity at a younger age. A 2020 report found that 14.7 million children and adolescents in the United States live with obesity. Because obesity is a known risk factor for serious health problems, its rapid increase during the COVID-19 pandemic raised alarms. Without intervention, many obese adolescents will remain obese as adults. Even before adulthood, some children will have serious health problems beginning in their preteen years. To address these issues, in early 2023,...

By Walid Hejazi, Professor of International Business, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto; and Bernardo Blum, Associate Professor, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto With the current geopolitical challenges between China and the United States, as well as the ongoing supply chain issues affecting manufacturers and consumers, there has been much talk about moving global manufacturing out of China. But despite the talk, U.S.-China trade reached a record level in 2022, with no signs of any slowing in the near future. While former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger is credited with opening China to the West...