Welcome to the first blog about my return to Sierra Leone. This week a few reflections on the organisation I am here with, the country, and the Ebola epidemic as it unfolds. KSLP For the past two years, King’s Sierra Leone Partnership has worked with our partners—Connaught Hospital (the only adult referral hospital in the country), […]
Rupert Whitaker: A pill for risky sex—another step on the road to a pill for bad housing
PrEP—or chemoprophylaxis against HIV infection, as the less sexy phrase goes—is about using chemicals to prevent yourself from contracting HIV during sex or the sharing of injection equipment, the acronym standing for “pre-exposure prophylaxis.” It has gradually emerged as a possibility as a public health intervention after six years of clinical trials. It looks very promising, […]
The BMJ Today: More GPs needed
“Why are medical schools attracting so few would-be GPs?” asks Richard Wakeford in a personal view, concluding that the Medical Schools Council is at least partly responsible: “Of 33 members representing undergraduate medical schools just two are GPs, the rest mostly clinician scientists.” His conclusion: “Medical schools must act, and the Medical Schools Council’s membership […]
Anne Muendi Musuva: Why global health needs a health systems social movement
This blog reflects discussions I had with fellow young people who attended the Third Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, which was held in Cape Town from 29 September to 3 October 2014. We attended the symposium as part of the Emerging Voices for Global Health, an initiative of the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, […]
Chris Ham: The NHS Five Year Forward View—the man matters more than the plan
Something very important happened on 23 October and it wasn’t the publication of the NHS Five Year Forward View. Far more important was the passion and confidence with which Simon Stevens launched the plan and challenged politicians to provide the funding needed to deliver it. His performance stood in stark contrast to the bickering over the […]
The BMJ Today: Have we forgotten our stiff upper lip?
The “Keep Calm and Carry On” slogan is a familiar sight on everything from posters to mugs, but has this sentiment, the embodiment of the famed Dunkirk spirit, been forgotten in modern Britain? A head to head debate on thebmj.com discusses whether emotional restraint or openness is a healthy response to adversity—a stiff upper lip […]
Anand Bhopal: Alcohol in society—the search for nuance in a fractious debate
Alcohol is a historical part of British culture, and pubs remain central to communities across the country. Yet the same liquor is also responsible for filling A&E departments; absorbing police time; and adversely affecting millions through dependency, addiction, social problems, and disease. Too much of the current discourse on alcohol policy overlooks this spectrum and […]
The BMJ Today: Trade wars and naloxone
A free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States is designed to meet the interests of corporations rather than patients and must be stopped in its tracks, says an editorial by John Hilary, executive director of campaign group War on Want. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a series of […]
Developing evidence based health policy in resource limited settings—lessons from Nepal
Few would argue against the benefits of evidence informed public health and health policies. However, efforts to inform health policy in resource limited settings face particularly daunting challenges—often specific to the political complexity and resource limitations experienced uniquely in low and middle income countries (LMICs). The Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC), a Government of Nepal […]
The BMJ Today: What’s in a name?
Next time you sneak a peek at an author’s affiliations, ask yourself if they mattered to you. Do you pay more attention to a study from Harvard University in the United States or one from the University of Abuja in Nigeria? Matthew Harris asks this question in a personal view, arguing that omitting the provenance of […]