Dear colleagues,
What a crazy world we are living in. Two protracted wars and, in my opinion, a dangerous, uneducated narcissist elected as the most powerful leader in the free world; someone who is trying to appoint a vaccine sceptic whose views contributed to the deaths of dozens of Samoan children by discouraging the use of measles vaccine…..to lead the U.S. Department of Health!
Trump also nominated, to the post of Head of Medicare, a TV personality doctor who is known for promoting weight loss supplements that did not have any evidence to support their use and who at one point tweeted about astrology being a valuable tool to learn health information from.
And who could forget Trump’s own health intuitions with his famously unhealthy diet choices and insightful and prudent advice during the height of the Covid epidemic when he suggested “it was just a flu; we should go to church (without masks) and pray; it will be over in a few months, we should consider ingesting bleach(!)” and “ hydroxychloroquine( Plaquenil) is the answer”. The last one in particular greatly inconvenienced many of my lupus and rheumatoid arthritis patients due to resultant shortages of this medication.
On a related note, global warming is probably the greatest challenge the planet has ever faced and Trump’s nominee for head of the Environmental Protection Agency has a 14 percent score from the League of Conservation Voters on his congressional voting record. Trump himself has cast doubts on whether global warming even exists with words of genius such as “you watch, in a few months it will be cold again”. The EPA is responsible, amongst other things for ensuring that global warming is as limited as possible, and the world looks to the US to help lead the way. The negative effects of climate change are arguably the greatest single threat to world health and is predicted to be particularly impactful on developing nations.
We at TTD continue to support our partners to bolster developing world medical resources in the face of this increasingly dangerous geopolitical environment.
Regards to all
Robert Baume
On behalf of the Directors of Twice the Doctor Foundation