dr. lu indicated, can provide opportunities to promote the health of girls and women before they become pregnant. state governments have incredible convening power, even while there are restrictions on how, when, and for whom our federal dollars can be spent. by bringing together our community organizations, payers, insurance companies, large academic health care systems and smaller community-based hospitals, state governments can be the bridge for idea exchange. the imperative that comes from such an exchange is the creation of interdisciplinary policy and programs that reach communities that have typically not yet benefited from federal funding and programs. in pennsylvania, the department of human services administers both the social services block grant and the maternal infant and early childhood home visiting program. currently over 6,000 individuals representing 3,200 households are served through this program with a total of 40,000 home visits being conducted in 2017. and while these

dr. karen lu is an expert in this field at m.d. anderson cancer center; and dr.ela marshall is an advisor to the black women's health imperative. she is in private practice in maryland. dr. lu, now that we've set the table a little bit, let's add a little context to this. in relation to other cancers, how prevalent are these? >> so all together, as you said, almost 100,000 women this year will be diagnosed with a gynecologic cancer. and importantly, with uterine cancer, it's on the rise. >> sreenivasan: and put that in perspective. compared to--, you know, there's a horrible reality in the cancer marketplace that some cancers get more attention than others, and the more attention they get, the more research funding they get as well. so how do these cancers compete and fair when we think about all the other cancers out there? >> there definitely is less attention, even though there's such a high number of women with these cancers. and i think the breast cancer community has done a fantastic job about demystifying and being open about talking about breast cancer, a

obama dr. lu called it an attack not just on the hospital but on international law. >> today we say enough. even war has rules. >> experts on international law agree. and say an apology isn't enough. >> it doesn't address the issue of how this happened, it doesn't request, address the legal issue of what is the nature of responsibility on the part of the u.s. military or specific commanders. so the real key questions aren't addressed. >> the white house still insists the ongoing pentagon investigation along with probes by nato and the afghan government is enough. the apology comes one day after the top u.s. commander in afghanistan accepted blame. >> a hospital was mistakenly struck. >> how did it happen? mark kimmit. >> that is what's going to be investigated. >> doctors without borders said patients in kunduz burned in their beds and regardless how it happened, the group isn't satisfied with a simple apology by the president. >> we are calling on powms to pt obama to consent to the fact finding

fred: ththen for two years, dr. luand her students used gps to map the sacred mountains in the ganzi district of western sichuan province. they found an average of three sacred mountains near each monastery in the district. in the united states, the protected area would be about the size of vermont and new hampshire combined. nearly one third of the land is in sacred areas. translator: who will protect the envivironment in the westt and in c china? it is governrnment respsponsibibilities. but the titibetans don't ink k f it that way. if you think of it that way, you are not buddhist. you are the protector. no matter if you are a newborn or 80 years old, you arere all protector. you have r responsnsibilities. all lives should be protected. fred: in some e districts, local gogovernments are recognizizinge sacreded mountains, and some a e en hiring tibetans to take care of the national nature reserves. translator: the cultural values of buddhism are very comforting to the scholars of conservation. i felt at last we found

dr. lu zhi is a conservation biologist at peking university.she's been working with tibetans in this area for many years. translator: during the 1990s, when i went to the tibetan area for the first time, i saw something that r really surprised me. ththere was a lot of loggiging going g on, but in some areaeas, the wild aninimals were not afraid of people. and there were very old trees, 600 or 700 y years old. the ancient forest wasas preserved. i asked the locacal people how is this popossible? people said this i is our sacred mountain. this was a big shock to me. just the concept of sacred mountain was good enough to preserve the resources. it's more powerful than the law or the preaching of scientists. totoday the systemem is still functioning. in the core area, nothing should be touched. then in a broader area, killing is notot allowed. no living bebeings should be haharmed. we did a survey on birds, and we discovered that wherever the belief in sacred mountains is strong, there is greater bibiodiversity. so this shows scscientifically ththe

fred: then for two years, dr. luand her students used gps to map the sacred mountains in the ganzi district of western sichuan province. they found an average of three sacred mountains near each monastery in the district. in the united states, the protected area would be about the size of vermont and new hampshire combined. nearly one third of the land is in sacred areas. translator: who will protect the environment in the west and in china? it is government responsibilities. but the tibetans do't think of it that way. if you think of it that way, you are not buddhist. you are the protector. no matter if you are a newborn or 80 years old, you are all protector. you have responsibilities. all lives should be protected. fred: in some districts, local governments are recognizing the sacred mountains, and some are even hiring tibetans to take care of the national nature reserves. translator: the cultural values of buddhism are very comforting to the scholars of conservation. i felt at last we found a way, and i began to

dr. lu, how can we better and consistently collect data as you have outlined on social determinants of health and risk factors so we can make informed improvements that yield better results for millions of minority women in this country who rely upon our hospitals for safe delivery? put your microphone on, please. dr. lu: first things first, make - let's make sure we get mortality review committee in every state. they do collect a lot of data on social determinance of health. i think we also need to be better tracking severe maternal morbidity. for every single maternal death , there are 50 to 75 near misses. women did not die but suffered a life threatening complication. i think there are a lot of things we could be learning from severe maternal morbidities. i also think we need to be doing a better job in terms of monitoring the quality and safety of hospital care which begs for performance measures on the inpatient side or the outpatient side. lastly and probably most importantly, we need

green, dr. lu, i'd like to go back to your testimony and get a little bit more in terms of the magnitude of the potential threat that near earth objects could present. figure 18 we had the meteor strike in russia -- february 18. didn't have any real warning of the strike before it occurred? >> that particular date it was a e-15, really quite a special day. because we actually had our to defend but the first one was very close flyby of a much larger asteroid that we called our da 14. and that when we had been watching for over a year and we tackled its orbit. when it was on a safe trajectory passed by the earth. indeed, the much smaller be right, 17 years in size that struck russia was not observed prior to its entry in the atmosphere. it was on a very difficult trajectory for us to be able to see from ground-based telescopes, and came basically in a sunward direction. so are telescopes operate from the ground in the evening of course from the night sky. one of the next major steps that has been ini

dr. lu for sure, i think someone else mentioned it, talked about the success that california has had. i want to focus on it a little bit. we started making our progress, it was just in 2006 when we established the cmqcc. seven years after that program was started, our maternal mortality rate in california was cut in half. seven years, cut in half. that's pretty incredible if you think about that. the other thing is the rest of the country, their rate skyrocketed during those same seven years. we have done well in california, but i think we have a long way to go. in particular the gains that we have made in california haven't been shared equally. the mortality rate for african-american mothers in california is still three or four times greater than it is for white women. dr. lu, what are some of the lessons congress and a other states could take from our experience in california? and how can we make sure the benefits of our efforts are equitable? that women of color are not left behind. dr. l

and let's get more we're joined by dr daniel lu the former taiwanese delegate to the w.h.o. who was also featured in the after party he joins us from taipei welcome to the program and thank you so much for being with us why is it so important for taiwan to once again have a seat at the deputy chose top table yes i've got to move on taipei thank you for this opportunity for will to speak up a little bit for compatriots and all hills is a signpost so for us to go to a couple shows not just for this epidemic along the pent is devastating for a lot of we were scared and we were very. anxious but we've managed so far but operational provide not only for the sexual diseases the profile all but all the issues the plateful for all the public health issues it's just not fair for us to to go into the bar so we get to work all by also with out with all cooperation and help well instructed or to the national stage and given the ongoing geopolitical tensions you know we mentioned that yes you are excluded as a member so that that is part of that how confident are you therefore that the w

of political right to the tool holder to get more important issues like health of everyone involved dr lu used to be a delegate to the w.h.o. when taiwan was still allowed to attend the assembly as an observer but that ended . on beijing's behest when taiwan's president from the pro independence party took office 4 years ago china claims the island as its own territory and therefore deems taiwan has no right to w.h.o. membership. politics should be set aside when it comes to health issues it's good for taiwan to share its experience with the world but you know you're not a one of them made a contribution to public accountability so it's unfair to be excluded it away from him full blown. taiwan has maintained its infection rate lower than almost anywhere else with 0 domestic infections for over a month even so the taiwanese haven't let their guard down. perhaps this is one of the things the world and the w.h.o. could learn from this island. and let's get more we're joined by dr daniel lu the former taiwanese delegate to the who was also featured in the africa fort he joins us from taipei w

dr. karen lu is part of jan's oncology team and she's talked about metformen.e it to control diabetes and when doctors started looking at it they saw something striking. >> when they looked at these large group of die bets, they found that those who were taking met fo ormen were having less cancers. >> it's fascinating. >> it is fascinating. >> dr. lu says tumors feed on insulin and it's lowered by the insulin levels so now she's launching a clinical trial to see if this really could be an effective treatment. >> the question is do we use it in patients once they have measurable disease and, you know, use it at that point -- at this point should we use it when people are in remission? we don't really know. >> what we do know is this. based 207b years of data, side effects are minor and rare and while cancer drugs cost tens of millions of dollars, metformin koufts like 10 cent as day. >> part of that is paying for failures. you see even if the medication is promising enough to be tested in humans, the vast majority those will not work. but that staggering cost a

dr. ann lu says knowledge is power for public health officers. the increase and testing of people with and without symptoms will help them make better decisions about reopening. >> if we know a lot of transmissions are linked to a specific activity it gives us a reason to introduce ways to make that activity safer. >> reporter: dr. lu says while experts get a better picture of where the coronavirus is and how people are getting it, keeping your distance, covering your face and washing your hands are the best way to control the spread. jean elle, "today in the bay." >>> new details this morning, the deadline is now over for undocumented immigrants to apply for relief assistance in california. "the mercury news" reports this morning more than 150,000 immigrants applied for state-funded disaster relief. the state plans on giving out $125 million for people who were unable to receive aid during the pandemic due to their immigration status. so far the state approved over 30,000 applications in the bay area. the program provides undocumented immigrants

red welts on her hand as well as her fingers. >> reporter: and this along with her young age, made dr. lu suspect savannah had arythropoietic porphyria. it was featured on "house." >> look at her arm. >> reporter: but could this be what was affecting savannah? >> the challenge is body how rare the condition is as well as the subtlety sometimes. there may be some red patches, maybe areas that look sunburned, that can lead to a long lag in diagnosis. >> reporter: after years of no answers, a simple blood test finally gave them one. >> what did the doctors finally tell you? >> that she had -- say it. >> erythropoirtic porypheria. >> reporter: it would mean a life sentence confined to a world of shadows. >> how do you explain this to your friends? >> that i'm allergic to the sun, i can't be out, i can never be at the beach, can never go to a sunlit pool. literally i have to be in the dark. dark's my home. >> reporter: savannah now 11 years old, has to wait until evening to swim in her pool. >> a friend's definition of a normal day and my definition of a normal day are way different. hers is b