New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, wants people to take the stairs. He is quoted as saying, “Buildings are often designed in ways that minimize physical activity,” and as inactivity is a major contributor to obesity he wants all new and renovated buildings in New York to have visible stairs. He couldn’t be more right. I […]
Martin McKee: What on earth were the LibDems thinking? The tobacco industry and the party conference
Once, in a very different time long ago, no one would have seen anything wrong. An organisation purporting to represent Britain’s small shopkeepers set up stall at a party political conference, representing the views of its members to members of parliament, local councillors, and other party members. But this time, the decision by the United […]
Richard Smith: Learning at a meeting on global health
Earlier this week I attended a meeting at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh on global health to beat my drum on the importance of non-communicable disease (NCD). Others were there to beat other global health drums, and I tried to learn all that I could from them. My main learning was that there […]
Marcus Müllner: A talk on relative effectiveness that I never gave
Yesterday I was invited by the European Parliament’s committee on the environment, public health and food safety (ENVI) to give a presentation on “Assessing the effectiveness of medicines in comparison with other treatment options.” Unfortunately the morning flight was cancelled so I didn’t make it. […]
Mary E Black: Moving public health contracts out of the NHS and over to local authorities
The problem with us Brits is that when handed the impossible to deliver we actually go ahead and do it, methodically, honestly, and with many a sincere task and finish group. Which is probably why I am still staring at the list of my novated public health contracts, which came over just before 1 April […]
Saleyha Ahsan: Syrian frontline medicine is under fire
Two weeks ago we braced ourselves for US military strikes in Syria. I have been based in a northern Syrian hospital, working under the umbrella of non-governmental organisation Hand in Hand for Syria, and being filmed for BBC Panorama. As an emergency medicine doctor I was integrated into one of the most challenging medical environments […]
Richard Cook: Managing the decline
I was out cycling with a friend recently when he told me about the comments of an ex professional cyclist. When asked about how he enjoyed cycling after his retirement, his reply was, “it’s all about managing the decline.” We chatted about how difficult this must be, to reach the peak of a sport, and […]
Richard Smith: The dangers of a moustache
A kiss without a moustache, the proverb says, is like an egg without salt and, added Jean Paul Sartre, like good without evil. The proverb doesn’t make clear which kisser should have the moustache and who loses out, but we can perhaps assume that the man has the moustache and the woman suffers a saltless […]
Marcus Müllner: Dealing with conflicts of interest in the regulatory decision making process
Conflicts of interest are a wonderful topic: Everybody has them, most believe they don’t, and the more you believe that, the stronger you value judgments about them. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has been repeatedly bashed for various reasons, one being the dangers of biased decision making due to an undue influence of industry. Accordingly […]
Georgios Lyratzopoulos: Overdiagnosis—is informed decision making by patients the way forward?
I enrolled for the Preventing Overdiagnosis conference assuming that the focus would be on cancer screening, but I was thankful that the conference covered every clinical specialty, including paediatrics, psychiatry, and cardiology, as well as surgical specialties and emergency medicine. After all, and as recounted by Jim Guest, it is possible for patients attending the […]