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The discovery that cigarettes cause cancer greatly improved human health. But that discovery didn’t happen in a lab or spring from clinical trials. It came from careful analysis of mounds of data. Imagine what we could learn today from big-data analysis of everyone’s health records: our conditions, treatments and outcomes. Then throw in genetic data, information on local environmental conditions, exercise and lifestyle habits and even the treasure troves accumulated by Google and Facebook. (J.J. Plecs and John H. Cochrane, 11/25)

Every 30 hours, a gay or bisexual adolescent boy under 18 in the U.S. is diagnosed with HIV. Gay and bisexual teen boys are disproportionately affected by HIV, accounting for almost two-thirds of new infections among adolescents. Young gay and bisexual men of color are hit especially hard, accounting for over three-quarters of these infections. HIV rates are rising among Latino adolescent boys , and 1 in 2 black men who have sex with men are expected to become HIV positive in their lifetimes. Given these alarming numbers, you might expect that substantial efforts are aimed at HIV prevention in these groups of boys. But that’s just not the case — out of 61 HIV prevention programs endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that focus on changing HIV risk behavior, zero are for gay or bisexual teen boys. (Kathryn Macapagal, 11/26)

As abortion rights have come under increasing attack in the United States, commentators have held up self-administered abortion pills as a backup plan for a post-Roe world. They point to the millions of pregnant women worldwide who are using pills to self-manage abortion, citing them as an example of what reproductive health care might look like should in-clinic abortions be made illegal. There’s no question that abortion pills are revolutionary. In the hands of women, the pills have transformed self-induced abortion from a once-dangerous endeavor into a safe procedure. Abortion help lines have walked women through the process of self-management, sometimes remotely or even over the internet. Where abortion is illegal, black market access to the drugs has resulted in significant decreases in complications and deaths. (Francoise Girard, 11/25)

FDA and CDC are putting public health first and emphasizing science. They are staying ahead of an emerging health risk, as they should. They also are developing a new system of tracking and labeling food, which makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, we live in a world where the news media quickly fans the flames of fear. By being so diligent and accountable, our health agencies (via the media) also unintentionally send the message that a particular food product — in this case, Romaine lettuce — is unsafe when, in fact, if you ate Romaine, the chances that you would become sick remains astronomically small. (Marc Siegel, 11/24)

America is suffering an epidemic of loneliness. According to a recent large-scale survey from the health care provider Cigna, most Americans suffer from strong feelings of loneliness and a lack of significance in their relationships. Nearly half say they sometimes or always feel alone or “left out.” Thirteen percent of Americans say that zero people know them well. The survey, which charts social isolation using a common measure known as the U.C.L.A. Loneliness Scale, shows that loneliness is worse in each successive generation. (Arthur C. Brooks, 11/23)

Next Thursday, I will get a vagina. The procedure will last around six hours, and I will be in recovery for at least three months. Until the day I die, my body will regard the vagina as a wound; as a result, it will require regular, painful attention to maintain. This is what I want, but there is no guarantee it will make me happier. In fact, I don’t expect it to. That shouldn’t disqualify me from getting it. (Andrea Long Chu, 11/24)

Hospital care is increasingly complex and specialized, and the demands on staff, especially nurses, are significant. Hospital leaders must redouble efforts to find alternative ways of collaborating with nurses to ease their burden and improve care to our patients. One innovative model might show us the way. (Douglas Brown, 11/23)

According to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of children without vaccines is on the rise, and has been since at least 2001. The report finds that 1.3 percent of children born in 2015 were completely unvaccinated, compared to 0.9 percent of children born in 2011 and 0.3 percent of children born in 2001. How worried should we be? Not that worried, at least not yet. Vaccinations protect not just the children who receive the shots, but everyone else as well. When enough of a given community gets vaccinated, diseases can’t spread because there aren’t enough unvaccinated people to catch the disease, creating what’s often called “herd immunity.” (11/25)

A federal appeals court ruled that Texas must hire more state workers to protect foster kids, yet the court overruled a lower court’s mandate that Texas increase the number of much-needed foster care homes. Hank Whitman, the commissioner of Child Protective Services, testified to the Texas House this month that the Legislature’s approval last session to significantly increase salaries and hire more caseworkers succeeded in reducing turnover. This is partial progress. But instead of only asking “How do we house and care for abused children?”, we must follow up with asking “How can we stop children from being abused?” (Madeline McClure, 11/23)

When we want to make our Commonwealth stronger, the private, public, and nonprofit sectors come together and get it done. We did this with education reform, health care reform, marriage equality, and pay equity, just to name a few. Today, with Massachusetts in the grip of an opioid overdose epidemic as evidenced by two reports funded by the RIZE Massachusetts Foundation, we must once again unite and focus our combined strengths on this crisis that is weakening our Commonwealth and hurting people and families. (Andrew Dreyfus, David Torchiana and Kate Walsh, 11/23)

More than 3.35 million unpaid family caregivers in Texas are providing an estimated 3.2 billion hours of care each year. This silent army is the backbone of elder care in our state, providing unpaid care valued at approximately $35 billion annually. The value provided by these unpaid family caregivers is greater than the entire Texas Medicaid program — federal and state spending combined. Texas can’t afford for these caregivers to stop providing such valuable assistance. (Bob Jackson, 11/23)