Last month, women’s rights activists in Mumbai took up a protest along the lines of the “Occupy Men’s Toilets” campaign in China, and demanded more public toilets for women. Last year it was headline news that India has more temples than toilets, so the need is clearly not a new one. In addition to diseases […]
Category: South Asia
Domhnall MacAuley: No magic answer for Achilles tendinopathy
“Although they are trendy money spinners, best evidence shows little effectiveness”—An attention grabbing subheading to an editorial by Nic Maffulli in the BMJ commenting on an intriguing randomised controlled trial (RCT) from New Zealand on the use of autologus blood injections in treating Achilles tendinopathy. It doesn’t work. […]
Readers’ editor: An evening with Itchy Sneezy Wheezy
Last week’s print BMJ included a 14 page supplement about BMJ Awards, held a week earlier in London. If you didn’t see it, here’s a link. The BMJ Awards website lists all the winners, along with pictures from the night. The BMJ Awards are now five years old. The event goes from strength to strength. Next […]
Richard Smith: Dragging global health from the 19th to the 21st century
Last week the World Health Assembly adopted some tough targets for NCD, including reducing deaths among those under 70 by 25% by 2025. The rhetoric is that a “whole of government, whole of society” approach will be needed, but in fact the agenda is dominated by health bodies. The Young Professionals Chronic Disease Network is […]
Readers’ editor: Free pens and memory sticks
I spent yesterday at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south London, talking to readers of the BMJ. The medical school library had organised an open day and a sales colleague had organised a BMJ stand, so I joined him to discuss our plans for the BMJ website with both qualified doctors and medical students. […]
Richard Smith: Is anything less than fully informed consent abuse?
Recently in preparing a talk I was giving in Bologna I found a copy of a talk I’d given to WONCA, the world meeting of general practitioners, back in the era before Powerpoint existed, and it contained information on a study that has stuck in my head for 20 years, but which I couldn’t find. […]
Juliet Dobson: MSF scientific day 2013—how can we measure the impact of research?
How can we measure the impact of research? What is impact, and how can we show that research leads to measurable outcomes for patients? On 10 May, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) held their annual scientific day, and the focus of the day was to try and answer some of these questions. There was also a […]
Richard Smith: Reclaiming blood pressure from doctors
We all know about obesity. We can see fatness. Obesity belongs to all of us, and it’s a global problem. Politicians care about obesity. But who cares about blood pressure? Raised blood pressure may be a bigger risk factor for premature death and suffering than obesity, but people don’t see it. Blood pressure belongs to […]
Naohiro Yonemoto: Japan welcomes new international research collaboration
The first Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials (COMET) workshop in Japan took place, in April 2013, at Kyoto University, stimulating debate about how the Japanese research and practice community might engage with this international initiative and make use of core outcome sets. Toshiaki Furukawa (Professor and Chair, Department of Health Promotion and Human Behaviour […]
Readers’ editor: BMJ cruise, anyone?
Readers of the Radio Times can visit locations used in the filming of Sir David Attenborough’s Africa on a tailor made tour offered by the 90 year old UK listings magazine. The Africa trip is one of dozens of destinations listed on RT Travel page and the latest example of how publishers are increasingly thinking like […]