Thou shalt not judge. There are times when it feels like our eleventh commandment. In our liberal, offence-free world there are supposed to be no good and bad choices, no good or bad lives, only a plurality of equal lifestyles equally deserving of respect. Arguably, the charge of moralism is now more widely feared than […]
I suspect that like many others of my generation the concept of a chaperone was introduced through school era reading of the classic works of Jane Austin. The necessity to protect the virtue of the young unmarried lady (of any significant social standing) required the presence of an older companion if any social intercourse with […]
A week ago, I was writing about rights—in this particular instance, the right to safe water, having personally experienced the city of Santiago without water during my stay in Chile. It seemed to me, as the city waited for water companies, and not hospitals, to oblige, that many solutions to fundamental public health problems lie […]
I see a lot of medical equipment that isn’t working. In fact, that’s my job. I’m a biomedical engineer and I spend a lot of time in Africa working with hospital staff, educators, and policy makers trying to understand why equipment doesn’t work and trying to do something about it. The figures themselves speak loudly. […]
Five strong women addressed the packed chamber at the Palace of Westminster, perhaps illustrating the predominance of women in the children’ sector. The subject was the launch of the 2012 state of children’s rights in England by the Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE). The report is a scorching condemnation of the government’s lack of […]
Climate change will soon destroy us. Global poverty is increasing. Non-communicable disease is sweeping the planet. Communicable disease is far from defeated and may re-emerge in new and terrible forms at any moment. Mothers are continuing to die in childbirth. War is now endemic, and nowhere, literally nowhere is safe. The tentacles of the pharmaceutical […]
Transport is the invisible glue that holds our lives together, an under recognised contributor to economic, social, and personal wellbeing. Unfortunately, in public health terms, our profession has allowed itself to focus almost exclusively on the downsides of transport. The chapter on transport in Marmot and Wilkinson’s otherwise excellent Social Determinants of Health makes for […]
With little media attention, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham has proposed scrapping clinical commissioning as part of a new round of NHS upheaval if Labour is returned to office. In a speech at the King’s Fund recently, Burnham tried to portray his ideas as a mere reshuffling of the structures that will be in place […]
JAMA Intern Med 28 Jan 2013 Vol 173 93 One of the chief glories of this journal (formerly called the Archives) lies in the articles labelled LESS IS MORE, which can range from editorials to original research papers, and this issue contains no fewer than four such. The US health economy contains massive incentives to […]
Cognisant of the short time that ministers are in post, Jeremy Hunt, decided when he became Secretary of State of Health, that to make a difference he should have only four priorities. They are, he told the Cambridge Health Network on Wednesday night, improving the quality of care, putting dementia higher on the agenda, reducing […]