I remember thinking that I finally understood what the phrase “hard to reach villages” actually means. After a full dawn-to-dusk boat journey the day before, myself, three Burmese colleagues, two portly government midwives, and the skinny boat owner, pushed off into the narrow river. The wooden boat was the smallest you can imagine seven adults […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—6 January 2014
NEJM 26 Dec 2013 Vol 369 2481 There was no let up in the American journals over what they call the holiday period, and the NEJM offered a trial of a new GSK influenza vaccine to our attention on Boxing Day. It is a quadrivalent vaccine containing inactivated influenza B virus of both main lineages, […]
Shalini on the national scale-up of the pentavalent vaccine in India
The pentavalent vaccine has been recommended for national scale-up in India. It was first introduced in two states, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, in 2011 as part of the national vaccination programme. The vaccine has so far made its way to seven more states. India has the highest infant and child under 5 mortality rate in […]
David Lock: Inconsistent CCG legal duties—can the circle be squared?
There are times when, as a lawyer advising NHS bodies, I get close to advising that the law is unworkable. An example emerged the day when I had to deal with the fact that clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have legal duties to “promote the involvement of patients and their carers in decisions made about healthcare […]
Faheem Ahmed: On the sideline or frontline—where should the British medical profession stand in times of armed conflict overseas?
Only days before his proposed release date, Abbas Khan was found dead in a government prison in Damascus. Arrested soon after his arrival in Syria, Dr Khan had initially planned to stay for two weeks in support of the humanitarian relief effort. Instead, he was detained for over a year and was starved, subjugated to […]
Richard Smith: We need “disease” to make us healthy
Health, says the WHO, is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. But could it be that some sort of infirmity is essential for being healthy? […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review: Christmas issues
NEJM 19 Dec 2013 Vol 369 2379 The BMJ is alone among the journals in making any concession to festive frivolity. By contrast, the NEJM seems determined to prove that it can maintain stony-faced intellectualism at all times: its seasonal offerings begin with “Somatic Mutations of Calreticulin in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms” and “Somatic CALR Mutations in […]
Frank Boulton: An entirely avoidable “natural” disaster
Medical professionals and the general public fear health crises such as disease epidemics and natural disasters that could quickly overwhelm hospitals and medical staff. This fear has led us to attempt to reduce these potential catastrophes through quarantine, in the case of epidemics, and early warning systems for earthquakes and tsunamis. These events are entirely […]
BMJ Journals research highlights—20 December 2013
BMJ Journals research highlights is a regular round-up of research papers appearing in the BMJ Journals. Use of inhaled corticosteroids and the risk of tuberculosis Chang-Hoon Lee, Kyungjoo Kim, Min Kyung Hyun, Eun Jin Jang, Na Rae Lee, Jae-Joon Yim Thorax 2013;68:1105-1113 Published online first: 8 June 2013 doi:10.1136/thoraxjnl-2012-203175 We have previously highlighted the worrying […]
Anne Winter: The drive for universal health coverage
In 2000, the whole of sub Saharan Africa had fewer telephone lines than Manhattan, and less than 3% of rural villages had access to land line telephones. Six years later, 45% had GSM coverage and connectivity is now a given across the continent. So it may be with healthcare. As momentum gathers around efforts to […]