It would be a stretch to say that I have now adapted to the African way, but after three weeks here at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) in Moshi, Tanzania, I am getting to do some of what I came here to do without, as far as I can tell, upsetting anyone in the […]
Vanessa Hattersley on getting rid of VAT on fruit smoothies
Although innocent is a relatively young company (12 years old in 2011), it has a long history of campaigning for the reduction of VAT on fruit juice and smoothies. Both of these count towards your 5-a-day (fruit juice counts as one and smoothies count as two portions [1]), but apart from sweetened dried fruit, they […]
Martin McShane: Where to start?
We are only two months away from it becoming real for GP consortia. I was looking through the information going to one of our pathfinder executive meetings in the next week. The GP consortium is looking good for this year and will deliver within budget unless something unexpected happens. Buried within the report was some worrying […]
Richard Smith: Five things about the NHS that are not sustainable
“There are five things about the NHS that are not sustainable,” said Phil Morley, chief executive of Hull and East Yorkshire Trust, in the middle of a conference last week on sustainability and health. He spoke like Cicero, only with more humour and a strong Northern accent. The conference was about environmental sustainability, but Morley […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review – 14 February 2011
JAMA 9 Feb 2011 Vol 305 569 If I were a woman, the things I would most fear from breast cancer surgery would be arm lymphoedema and recurrence of the cancer. Does one have to be balanced against the other? Common sense would suggest that the more axillary lymph nodes you dissect, the less likely […]
Research highlights – 11 February 2011
“Research highlights” is a weekly round-up of research papers appearing in the print BMJ. We start off with this week’s research questions, before providing more detail on some individual research papers and accompanying articles. […]
Sandra Lako: Life-saving blood
While driving past an NGO hospital last week a friend read out a sign painted on the hospital wall stating that patients need to come with their own blood donors. He thought that was very odd but having been here for years it didn’t seem strange to me. I suppose in the developed world, one […]
Jonny Martell: Is love a drug?
Like most things related to sex, “This House believes that Female Sexual Arousal Disorder is a fabrication,” proved a popular motion for the 41st Maudsley Debate at the Institute of Psychiatry in London on 2 February. The auditorium was packed to bursting. Combining libido, a distinct whiff of disease mongering and the sticky paws of […]
Kostia Pertsovskyi: In Ukraine, opioid substitution therapy for injecting drug users is under threat
In Ukraine the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is the highest in Europe, and injecting drug use is the primary driver. A new law passed in January 2011 reaffirmed state guarantees for harm reduction services, including needle exchange and substitution treatment, as well as confidentiality of HIV status. This law is a major turning point for the […]
Vasiliy Vlassov: Obstetrics and child care in Central Asia
Before Christmas I participated in an educational event for obstetricians and perinatologists from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. It was arranged by GTZ (German Technical Cooperation) as part of their project in the region. Over the past few years, Central Asia has become the area for testing new approaches. First all the funding from donors was […]