Summary: A killer flu outbreak isn't just a developing-world nightmare. The influenza virus is so adaptable that the West is as vulnerable as anywhere else. This program outlines the history of influenza and explores current research into what steps, if any, might prevent a future flu pandemic. Viewers are shown how the virus mutates to resist vaccines and has an uncanny ability to jump species...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Every day, 25 million Americans provide care for loved ones. This program, hosted by NewsHour's Ray Suarez, looks at the rich rewards and wisdom that often attend such care, as well as at the hard work that home healthcare entails. Drawing on the direct experience of family members and others, including author Beth Witrogen McLeod-whose book Caregiving, the Spiritual Journey of Love, Loss, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Striking in areas where vaccines tend to be out of reach, the 2005 Indian Ocean tsunami produced fears of an immediate cholera epidemic. But one district in southern India showed the world how to defy the odds, clearing contaminated debris and working with UNICEF to distribute clean water, thus keeping cholera at bay without the help of drugs. This film travels to Tamil Nadu where aid workers...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program travels to Cambodia, where 1 in 10 people carry hepatitis B, a major cause of liver cancer. Mothers often transmit the virus to their babies during childbirth, and children can pass the infection to each other through even the most minor cuts and scratches. At London's Hammersmith Hospital, pioneering new surgery makes it possible for patients to survive advanced liver cancer. In...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Over a half-million women in the world get cervical cancer every year, with nearly 80 percent in developing countries. Human papilloma virus (HPV) causes the cancer and is therefore among the worst instigators of female cancer mortality worldwide. A vaccine is now available against the disease, but how effective is it, and can it save lives in poor, remote regions as well as wealthy areas? This...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: At an overwhelmed hospital in Uttar Pradesh, India, young children struggle for their lives. The threat initially appears like the flu or other illnesses, so it often goes misdiagnosed and treated with useless antibiotics until a more experienced doctor sees the patient. By then, it is often too late to prevent either death or severe brain damage. The film provides a glimpse of India's 2005...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: It is estimated that every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria. Medicines continue to be the main tool in fighting it-but, with growing resistance to existing drugs, there is an urgent need to discover new ones and distribute them at affordable prices in poor, disease-endemic countries. The major obstacle to the discovery of new anti-malarials is the lack of global investment in drug research...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: With the final investigative work of journalist Peter Jennings as its cornerstone, this program studies the frightening rise of AIDS among African-Americans-a trend that has been developing for several years, but which has gone largely unnoticed outside the black community. Jennings' contribution to the program is a candid group discussion he conducted with HIV-positive African-American men in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Science has made leaps and bounds in its assault on AIDS-but do antiretroviral drugs guarantee a long life? Why does the disease still cause widespread suffering in Africa, despite the development of new medicines? Author and actor Stephen Fry investigates, traveling across the U.S., Great Britain, and Uganda as he studies the medical obstacles to an AIDS-free world. Fry highlights good news,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: New and lethal strains of TB are emerging worldwide which cannot be treated by conventional drugs. One estimate puts the number of new MDR TB cases per year as high as 400,000. After 40 years without any research into new drugs, the race is on to find a cure for MDR TB. This program travels between Peru and South Korea as it examines both the current impact of TB super strains in the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: On World AIDS Day 2003, WHO and UNAIDS released a detailed and concrete plan to reach the 3 by 5 target of providing antiretroviral treatment to three million people living with AIDS in developing countries and those in transition by the end of 2005. It was a vital step toward the ultimate goal of providing universal access to AIDS treatment to all those who need it. This program travels to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne infection, which affects some 50 million people annually. It is now endemic in more than 100 countries in Africa, South America, the Eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific. This program journeys to Thailand to join scientists at the forefront of the fight to contain and eliminate Dengue. Viewers learn about one of the principal challenges...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: A hospital is a place of healing and recovery. So why can the experience provoke feelings of anxiety, confusion, helplessness, and fear? This program will help relieve the stress of hospitalization by familiarizing you with what to expect. Topics include admittance procedures, your typical day in the hospital, interacting with your health care workers, and knowing your rights as a patient. As...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: With each passing month and year, a child's health care needs get more and more complex. But it is possible to address them using close observation, sensitivity, and a proactive approach. This program guides beginning health care workers through the factors involved in toddler, child, and teen medical care. In addition to overviews of how children learn boundaries, develop autonomy, and form...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Thriving in more than 50 developing countries, mostly in Africa and Asia, trachoma is the leading cause of blindness in the world. It is at its worst in rural communities and women are its favorite victims. Trachoma is a bacterium that lurks in stagnant water and, once established in a human host, creates deforming scar tissue in the eye. This program shows how the struggle against the disease...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: This year alone, eight million people will become infected with tuberculosis. Like the common cold, TB spreads through the air when sufferers cough, sneeze, spit, or just talk. One needs only to inhale a few germs to catch it. This program tracks the disease, its impact, and the science behind it, from the U.K. to India to Malawi. At the Imperial College in London, Professor Douglas Young is...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Among new HIV cases, heterosexual patients are the majority-and high-risk behavior appears to be on the rise in many young demographic groups. What does this tell us about evolving attitudes towards AIDS? How do factors such as immigration, cultural tradition, economic disparity, and government inaction come into play? Writer and actor Stephen Fry pushes for answers, infusing this program with...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: When polio vaccines were first developed, many experts thought the disease would be fully eradicated within decades. Tragically, as this film shows, it has survived in places like Afghanistan and northern Nigeria. These locations are now acting as disease reservoirs, with children the hardest-hit demographic and with travelers re-infecting other countries once thought invulnerable....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2004
View online at AVOD
Summary: Anorexia and other eating disorders exert a frightening degree of control over millions of teenagers, especially young women. Manifested in so-called “Pro-Ana” websites, which actively promote anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating, the mental and physical grip of these sicknesses can prove impossible to break. This program represents a powerful weapon in the battle against eating disorders,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Virtually every child in the world, rich or poor, is infected early in life by a vicious bug called rotavirus. The lucky ones show no symptoms-they simply become immune. Others develop severe diarrhea. Given the best medicine, the victims recover. However, in developing countries, where even simple rehydration therapy may be hard to come by, rotavirus is lethal, killing around 400,000 children...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: When a loved one's fate lies in another's hands, the decisions can be overwhelming. This program, hosted by NewsHour's Ray Suarez, follows two families as they grapple with life-and-death decisions inside an ICU. A doctor, an ethicist, and others help these families through the process of making decisions on behalf of those who are no longer able to communicate their wishes. La Vera Crawley, of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Eating disorders are not about the desire to be thin. Eating disorders are severe psychological illnesses that usually take years to overcome and can be accompanied by devastating and sometimes deadly physical side effects. In this powerful program, four young women and men from a variety of ethnic backgrounds share their stories of the physical pain and emotional torment caused by eating...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Many who followed the Terri Schiavo case struggled to make sense of the flurry of opinions it generated. This NewsHour program, recorded during the last days of Terri Shiavo's life, presents two opposing yet thoroughly reasoned perspectives on the issues. Beth Israel Medical Center neurologist Dr. Russell Portenov explains the medical justification for removing the feeding tube, while Dr....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Uganda is at a turning point in its fight against malaria. In Kampala's Mulago hospital, a staggering percentage of admissions are due to malaria and it is the highest cause of death amongst patients. The parasite is becoming resistant to the standard treatments, and infecting children of younger ages. Just as worrying-some mosquitoes are becoming immune to the insecticide commonly used on...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011