In healthcare we are much concerned about privacy, but Sainsbury’s, the supermarket chain, knows how much toilet paper I’ve bought in the past 20 years, how many chocolate éclairs I eat a month, that I love smoked fish, whether I eat white or brown bread, and much more. It could probably do a better job […]
Tag: health
Polly Stoker on Threads and Yarns – personal accounts of health and wellbeing
Senior citizens and first year textile undergraduates getting together to make material flowers is not something that you would associate with the BMJ. Much more Craft magazine, surely? This was certainly my first thought when told to cover the V&A’s one day, “Threads and Yarns” exhibition. But after looking at the brief, (and being a […]
Duncan Jarvies on digital health
Once the domain of big broadcasters like the BBC, video is now becoming more democratised. The plummeting cost and increasing quality of consumer cameras has opened up the world of filming to the masses. Internet services like youtube or vimeo have given people a platform to broadcast their movies. […]
Richard Smith on the right to health
On first acquaintance the concept of a right to health can seem ridiculous. Why not a right to happiness, beauty, high intelligence, and Arsenal winning the cup every year? The right to health has been questioned legally and on grounds of feasibility and policy, but the Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen answers these questions convincingly […]
A global conversation on defining health: Alex Jadad and Laura O’Grady
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” In February of 2008 we dreamt of the possibility of publishing an article about the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of health to mark its 60th anniversary. Today, we were very pleased to see it […]
Klaus Morales: Can doctors be healthy AND happy?
“Work is central to wellbeing, and certain features correlate highly with happiness.” Tony Delamothe (BMJ 2005;331:1489-1490). Agree. But to what extent? I just got home from a whole day of activities and duties at the hospital and let’s say – a bit of bla bla blas. Yes, I am a junior doctor, but not a […]