While food shortage and malnutrition have been a common scenario throughout human history, the worldwide public health crisis caused by the epidemic of obesity is relatively recent.

Gilead Sciences Inc.’s COVID-19 drug remdesivir during 2021 overtook AbbVie Inc.’s 20-year-old arthritis drug Humira as the medicine that U.S. hospitals spent the most on, according to Vizient Inc., a purchasing group used by about half the nation’s hospitals.

Many countries have not reached their peak in cases of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus and measures imposed to curb its spread should be eased slowly, the World Health Organization’s technical lead on COVID-19 said on Feb. 1.

Leading South African scientists are set to investigate COVID-19 and HIV in tandem, amid mounting evidence that the collision of the two pandemics could be generating new coronavirus variants.

Domestic violence nonprofits Safe in Harm’s Way Foundation Inc. and DomesticShelters.org, a service of Theresa’s Fund, are partnering with IPG Health company Neon and the Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) to continue raising nationwide awareness of domestic abuse. Experts say the COVID-19 crisis prompted a shadow pandemic or uptick in domestic abuse and the campaign aims to connect victims of abuse with the help they need through out of home advertising.

More than 100,000 Americans died from diabetes in 2021, marking the second consecutive year for that grim milestone and spurring a call for a federal mobilization similar to the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The highly transmissible Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus – the most common form of which is known as BA.1 – now accounts for nearly all of the coronavirus infections globally, although dramatic surges in COVID cases have already peaked in some countries.

COVID tests

The United States government procured more than 100 million additional COVID-19 tests from testmaker iHealth Lab Inc. as part of the White House’s plan to distribute 500 million free at-home tests across the country, the Department of Defense said Jan. 28.

The pandemic has undoubtedly altered the way of life for all Americans, but it has also shed light into the bleak statistics that are showing the opioid crisis is even worse than ever before. For the first time in history, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that nearly 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses over a 12-month period ending in March 2021, which was a little more than a 30 percent increase from the previous year.

The prevailing theory about the Omicron variant is that it is going to rip through the population quickly and possibly burn out, marking the downside of the COVID-19 pandemic. But researchers are expressing concern about a subvariant of Omicron dubbed BA.2 that appears to be tearing through Denmark, just as the first Omicron wave subsided.