Multi-source feedback and I didn’t get off to a great start when I found out that, when it came to being a doctor, my colleagues rated me as 7.3. I think my response at the time was something like “huh?” or perhaps “uh-huh.” Or maybe “uhh…” I can’t remember. I was gathering opinions for my […]
Category: Guest writers
Suchita Shah: Polio resurgence in Syria—the importance of vaccination in wartime
Today, on Remembrance Day, while the nation remembers the fallen, battles continue to rage throughout the world. Alongside wars, the scourge of disease is claiming victory over the weak and dispossessed. Less than two weeks ago, the WHO reported 10 cases of wild poliovirus isolated from 22 children with acute flaccid paralysis in Syria. Most […]
Gabriel Scally: International health starts at home
The sheer number (more than 600) and range of exhibitors that set up stall at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting is, for me, one of the most interesting aspects of the entire event. The biggest group of exhibitors by far are the academic institutions. A huge number of US universities and schools of […]
Michel Kazatchkine: Aids—huge progress but time for a rethink on how to end the epidemic for those most affected
The progress made against AIDS in the last decade has been extraordinary. In the last decade, close to 10 million people in developing countries have been given antiretroviral treatment. In sub-Saharan Africa, 60% of people in urgent need of such medicines now have access to them, something unthinkable just a few years ago. As a […]
Gabriel Scally: A grotesque parody of fairness
It’s a long way to go from Bristol to Boston for a conference, but I’m adding to my carbon footprint and attending the 141st American Public Health association meeting. It’s an enormous meeting. Despite some tough times in the US local public health departments, 13 000 people are making this meeting, yet again, the biggest […]
Ingrid van Beek: Navigating the urban policy jungle—some dos and don’ts
The past 20 years has seen an increasing commitment to evidence based medicine. This approach has also started to inform public policy making. This more objective way of determining the best method forward is especially important in the potentially controversial field of illicit drugs, which has both public health and public order implications. There is […]
Dave Albert: Cycling surgeons for safer surgery
Why would one ever consider cycling from Glasgow to London when there is a perfectly good train? Particularly if you choose a really hilly route, with 20 percent climbs through the Lake District and twice over the Pennines. This question was on our minds as we got colder and wetter and our legs struggled up […]
Ravi Murugesan: Open access and academic blogging
I’m not a social scientist, so it was with some anxiety that I travelled halfway across the world to attend the World Social Science Forum. The theme, “social transformations and the digital age,” gave me some hope. I teach online and I’m a telecommuter, so I thought as a person of the digital age I […]
Christian Duncan and Rakhee Chawla: The growing problem of dog bite injuries—a surgeon’s perspective
Over the past 10 years, dog bite related admissions in all age groups have risen, with children under the age of 10 being most commonly afflicted. A year long audit at our plastic surgery units in Liverpool have revealed that there are three times the number of admissions in children than in adults with, on […]
Barbara Peters: When does a hospital’s duty of care end?
When does a hospital’s duty of care end? Great care is placed in patient pathways, but little recognition given to what happens after a patient dies. The challenge is that death has something of an image problem and so, by association, do mortuaries. As a result, our work is often misunderstood by the public and […]