Tomorrow is World AIDS Day and this year all the talk is of tipping points and “ending AIDS.” On both sides of the Atlantic lobby groups are calling on their governments to create blueprints to achieving an HIV free generation. So why, after 26 years of working in the sector, do these cries make me […]
Gitau Mburu: How communities have helped transform the global HIV response
As World AIDS Day approaches, let’s pause for a second to pay tribute to the tremendous efforts around the globe which have resulted in more than eight million people having access to lifesaving HIV treatment today. According to UNAIDS’ Global AIDS report published last week, the number of people accessing HIV treatment increased by 63% […]
Paul Glasziou: How many journals do you need to read?
Do you regularly read Chronobiology International? No, me neither. But that was the source journal for the article we read at a recent GP journal club I attended in Perth (Western Australia, not Scotland). It reported the 5.6 year follow up results of a 2,000 patient randomised trial that compared evening to morning dosing of […]
Grania Brigden: Children with TB—global interest at last
At last, tackling tuberculosis (TB) in children is on the international agenda. This year, for the first time, an estimate of the extent of TB in children was included in the Global Tuberculosis Report. Although the report acknowledged that the figures were approximate and probably too low, their inclusion ends the paucity of global paediatric […]
Desmond O’Neill: The age friendly university
All innovation is characterised by many false starts, but occasionally an event feels like the real deal, a sure sense of a phase shift in our world. This was the case earlier this month when I found myself sharing the speakers’ platform with the Irish Taoiseach (prime minister), Enda Kenny, at the launch of an […]
Muir Gray: Defining the pathway for population systems of care
Read the rest of this series of blogs about designing and planning population based systems of care here. Step 7: Defining the pathway The pathway is the route the patient usually takes through the system. NICE produces pathways, but these need to be localised using the Map of Medicine or the Pathways for Health software. […]
David Nicholl: Bodies revealed but with consent for what?
The Human Tissue Act (HTA) arose out of the Alder Hey scandal when hundreds of deceased children’s organs were retained without seeking consent from their relatives between 1988-1996 in Liverpool. After the HTA was implemented in 2004, it became a criminal offence to even have a DNA sample, with the intention of having it analysed, […]
Jacky Davis on the National Health Action party
On a recent rainy Saturday in November an estimated 15,000 people marched through the centre of Lewisham in response to a call to protect their local hospital whose A&E department, children’s and maternity services are all under threat of closure. The march took an hour to file past and was remarkable for its heterogeneity, with […]
Julian Sheather: Should parents be compelled to vaccinate their children?
I was recently asked to give a talk on vaccination and potential conflicts between the rights of parents and the interests of their children. A few years back when my boys were bonny wee things some bohemian friends announced that they would not be vaccinating their children, they would rely instead on homeopathic remedies. Although […]
Richard Smith: National programmes to prevent diabetes
Europe has started 187 programmes to prevent diabetes, but fewer than 10 survived to the end of funding, said Peter Schwarz from Dresden, at the World Congress on Prevention of Diabetes in Madrid earlier this month. Of the 150 million people in Europe at risk of diabetes only a very few are reached by prevention […]