“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” In February of 2008 we dreamt of the possibility of publishing an article about the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of health to mark its 60th anniversary. Today, we were very pleased to see it […]
Category: Guest writers
Siddhartha Yadav: Sex and the city
Thamel is a busy tourist hub in Kathmandu. Its streets are lined by numerous shops, massage centres, bars, pubs, hotels, restaurants and even strip clubs, popularly known as dance restaurants. Life in Thamel begins with nightfall. This nightlife used to continue throughout the night. But not any more. A new directive by the home ministry […]
Ohad Oren injects hope into medical communication
In Israel, a country where we don’t need reminding of the precariousness of life, absolute terms like life and death are sometimes blurred. This gives power to the sort of faith that relatives tend to develop, on their endless journey of praying for their dreams – of resurrecting their loved ones from the enemy’s hands […]
Matiram Pun: Mountain medicine – pilgrims, research, and peace
With the world’s media reporting about the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the first congress of the Asia-Pacific Society of Mountain Medicine (APSMM) took place in Delhi on 28-30 November. The society was founded a year ago, and the congress was attended by scientists from the region. The theme of the congress was “Life and Living […]
Julian Sheather on genetically modified organisms
One evening last week I found myself alone in the restaurant of a large golfing hotel in a remote corner of Essex. Probably because it happens so infrequently, I quite like having dinner on my own, even in a large golfing hotel. It means I get to read while I eat, something I am not […]
Andrew Hogg on clubfoot in Africa: the video
While working in the orthopaedic department at Ngwelezana I spent a fair amount of time doing the clubfoot clinics. For those unfamiliar with clubfoot treatment, most cases can be corrected very successfully without needing any major foot surgery. […]
Terrence Collis on publish and be damned
Every day one of our national newspapers publishes a piece reporting on “scientific research” and nearly every day the report is misleading, inaccurate, shows poor understanding of science and scientific research methods, and irritates the hell out of many a hardworking researcher. Often the original research is crap too. […]
Michael Adler and colleagues on HIV today
It has been 25 years since HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was isolated. Since that time, 25 million people have died of HIV related illnesses. In 2007 there were an estimated 33 million people (CI 30-36) living with the virus and three quarters of all related deaths and two thirds of incident cases were […]
Paul Vincent: Practise what you preach
“Judge not, lest you be judged,” so goes the popular Christian refrain. Less known, but equally striking is “Never trust a fat preacher.” Is it ok to judge if you’re a preacher? How can you guide your flock without making the judgement that they need guiding? If you do so judge, do you then have […]
Heather Payne: Baby P and now the completely nameless
As if “Baby P” wasn’t bad enough, now we hear about 2 women and 19 pregnancies resulting in 7 surviving children. The nearest we have to a name for this case is “the British Fritzl.” This somehow sums up the dehumanisation of abuse – these victims are without even the dignity of a public name; […]