There are many ways of discovering effective medicines. One can, for example, investigate herbal remedies, endogenous agents in animals and micro-organisms, or drug metabolites; use applied pharmacology and empirical chemistry; or implement rational design based on a target or pathophysiology. Not infrequently chance plays a part, as in the case of lithium. Two hundred years […]
What can we learn from the European Union’s first right to food law?
By Tomaso Ferrando and Roberto Sensi. In this second article on the #RightToFood, part of a BMJ Global Health series, we discuss our experience of the conception and enactment of a right to food law in Lombardia, Italy. The “Recognition, Protection and Promotion of the Right to Food,” was approved by the Lombardia Regional Council in November 2015. […]
David Kerr: Big pharma in Trumpland
Donald Trump has big pharma in the crosshairs. Using classic #TrumpSpeak, the soon to be 45th President of the United States hinted recently that Medicare, the biggest buyer of drugs in the US, could soon be able to negotiate drug prices directly with the pharmaceutical industry. This is something big pharma has spent years and […]
Yuhong Zhu: School bullying in China calls for holistic interventions and prevention
Recently there has been a lot of discussion on social media in China about bullying at school and the effect that it has on children’s mental health. Bullying is emerging as a pressing social issue in China, and the literature provides evidence that bullying is a globally pervasive problem. Bullying is an extremely difficult life […]
Richard Smith on supply-led demand—more doctors, more hospitals, more cost, but not more value
I squirm every time I hear that “increasing patient demand” is driving up costs in the NHS. I squirm because demand, although a standard technical word of economists, sounds so pejorative and blaming. “Those bloody patients. If they’d only stop demanding so much the NHS would be fine.” It’s crucial to understand (but is not […]
David Shaw: The implications of conflicts of interest for informed consent
The General Medical Council (GMC) has detailed guidelines on handling conflicts of interest. These state that “You must not allow any interests you have to affect the way you prescribe for, treat, refer, or commission services for patients.” [1] But in many cases, doctors who fail to disclose a conflict of interest are not only […]
Derek Bell: A blame approach will endanger the future of the NHS
Both the news headlines and the staff working in healthcare report real pressures within the NHS. The reasons for this are multifactorial and include recruiting and retaining a high quality workforce, financial constraints, and increased demand, combined with an ever increasing availability of effective treatment and diagnostics. Add to the mix the challenge of winter and […]
Living with tinnitus and how it’s helped me identify with my patients
My illness presented itself suddenly in the middle of a summer night when tinnitus woke me up like an unwelcome visitor. I waited a few minutes for it to go away, but it had come to stay forever. It was coming from my left ear, sounding like a high pitched metallic/whistling noise, with some low […]
Miranda Wolpert: We must set realistic expectations for outcomes in child mental health
The secretary of state for health, Jeremy Hunt, identified Child and Young People’s Mental Health Services as “the biggest single area of weakness in NHS provision at the moment.” Hardly a day goes by when there is not another story in the press about children and young people failing to get access to or needing to travel […]
Seth Berkley: The new priority in Syria is preventing epidemics
Regardless of how the current ceasefire agreement in Syria came about, it has—to a large extent—brought a welcome halt to hostilities in many parts of the country. But as one humanitarian crisis is suspended, another potentially hangs in the balance—the growing threat of epidemics. With no way of knowing how long the ceasefire will last, […]