With the 7 May general election rapidly approaching, we have reviewed the manifestos of the five main political parties, standing in all UK regions, to determine what they are offering our children in 2015. All children exist in a context that shapes their health and wellbeing, and from which they cannot be separated. As advocates […]
The BMJ Today: A bullet in the heart and other stories…..
• According to this study of 900,000 patients, commercial providers of out of hours GP care in England are associated with poorer experience of care compared with NHS or not for profit providers. The authors also found that some ethnic minorities, particularly Asian patients, reported a poorer experience than white patients, especially when asked about timeliness […]
Marika Davies: Medical students and social media
Anyone who has taught medical students in recent years will be familiar with the sight of students appearing more interested in the screens of their laptops, tablets, or mobile phones. While they may, of course, be using their devices to take notes, there is always the suspicion that they are in fact sending text messages or […]
John W McEvoy on the Baltimore riots
When I came to Baltimore from Ireland in 2008 many people said I was crazy. I often heard from friends and colleagues, “Be careful, that’s where they made The Wire.” However, as a young resident physician, an underserved city like Baltimore seemed to me like a great place to train. On my annual trips home […]
The BMJ Today: A healthy NHS, preventing SIDS, and more on Nepal
• A letter to the next secretary of state for health In an open letter to the politician who will become secretary of health after the UK general election on 7 May, The BMJ provides a checklist for a healthy NHS, with funding the key issue. “History will not forgive another health secretary whose actions […]
Paul Auerbach on being part of the relief effort in Nepal
I’ve just joined the International Medical Corps team that will be growing to help meet the needs of Nepal following the recent devastating earthquake. It wasn’t easy to fly in, because the airport has a single main runway and isn’t large enough to park many large aircraft, and there is a great number of relief flights from all […]
Alvaro Bermejo: Linking prevention and treatment—the only way to stop HIV infections
While new global HIV infection targets, including the recently adopted UNAIDS Fast Track targets—which aim for no more than 500 000 new infections among adults by 2020 and no more than 200 000 by 2030—have been well received, they are insufficient on their own to re-energize and guide country efforts in their national HIV response. […]
Abhishek Yadav: Nepal struggles to cope with the aftermath of the earthquake
It was just another Saturday morning in Kathmandu city. Suddenly, the earth moved. “Earthquake!” I sounded the alarm as I gathered my family and clambered out of the house. Disoriented and panicked, my family and I ran out to a field adjacent to our community of about a hundred houses. I watched in disbelief as […]
The BMJ Today: Hidden calories, a derailed salt strategy, and a call for aid to Nepal
• Is it time for calorie labels on alcohol? How much do you know about the calorie content of your favourite tipple? Probably not much, if you follow the trend of most people previously surveyed on this topic. In this personal view, Fiona Sim says we need to tackle the number of “invisible” calories we consume in […]
The role of a health partnership: Development of a Centre for Evidence Based Medicine in Uganda
The past few decades have been marked by unprecedented interest in evidence based medicine (EBM), and a focus upon the use of innovative methods and protocols to provide valid and reliable information for healthcare (Greenhalgh, 2010). Evidence based healthcare has been indicated to be the most appropriate way of ensuring that patients receive the most effective […]