Elizabeth Pisani says Obama 's embrace of science in setting health policy is encouraging . Better to put in place prevention programs that deal with a distasteful headache now than to deal with a much greater headache in the future . But political and moral ideology , she says , often conflict with science - based policy . Studies show that giving health workers clean water stalls HIV 's spread , she says . Pisani : Science - based solutions must be made politically workable to be effective .
Elizabeth Pisani says Obama 's embrace of science in setting health policy is encouraging . But political and moral ideology , she says , often conflict with science - based policy . Studies show that giving health workers clean water stalls HIV 's spread , she says . Pisani : Science - based solutions must be made politically workable to be effective .