Privatizing Canada's health care is not the answer: Lessons from the United States
Investing in Canada's public health system is the best way to improve it, rather than privatization, writes Dr. Marcia Angell, a senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School and former editor-in-chief of The New England Journal of Medicine. view more (2008-10-07)
Toilet Graffiti Encourages Breast Self-Examination
New research shows that health information placed on public toilet doors - 'health graffiti' - encourages young women to breast self-examine. These findings represent an important step in the fight against breast cancer, which affects as many as 1 in 10 women at some point in their life. The research, carried out by a team of health psychologists... view more... (2004-08-23)
England facing “public health crisis” over worsening sexual health
England is facing a public health crisis in terms of the ongoing worsening of the nation’s sexual health, claims the architect of the government’s sexual health strategy. And it is set to become much worse. view more (2003-04-11)
Flu pandemic in prison
When pandemics occur, correctional facilities are not immune. With more than 9 million people incarcerated across the globe 2.25 million in U.S. jails and prisons alone it is vital that correctional officials and health professionals be prepared for a worst-case scenario that involves pandemic influenza reaching inmates and staff. view more (2009-05-06)
Privatisation can affect health
A study in this week’s BMJ finds that loss of secure public sector employment through privatisation has a direct effect on minor psychiatric illness and longstanding health. Over 600 employees of one civil service department that was sold to the private sector were surveyed to examine the health implications of job loss and re-employment. In... view more... (2001-03-13)
Explosion in corporate tobacco sponsorship
Corporate sponsorship by tobacco companies in the USA has rocketed, shows research in Tobacco Control. Between 1995 and 1999, tobacco company sponsorship amounted to a minimum estimated $365 million, with motor sports taking the lion's share. But tobacco dollars also funded many small, community based projects, many of them part of the public... view more... (2001-09-04)
LANCET SUPPLEMENT - ONE WORLD, MANY VOICES
This year's supplement to The Lancet aims to give different perspectives on a wide range of health-related topics by comparing views from countries with very different past traditions and present realities. The contrasts and similarities between the essays in the supplement are sometimes startling and surprising. Public-health issues in the USA,... view more... (2000-12-21)
Overcoming the problems of performance league tables
NHS performance league tables are misleading and should be replaced by a more user friendly method of assessing health service performance, argue researchers in this week's BMJ. view more (2002-01-09)
New Call for Public Awareness of Science
New Call for Public Awareness of Science The European Commission, Research Directorate General has just launched a call for proposals for Raising Public Awareness of Science and Technology. The deadline for proposals is 15 April 2002. The main objectives of Raising Public Awareness include helping European citizens to understand more about the... view more... (2002-01-18)
Litvinenko poisoning caused limited public concern
The fatal poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko with radioactive polonium-210 in London in 2006 caused limited public concern about potential health risks, according to a study published on bmj.com today. view more (2007-11-02)
Have medical journals helped to justify war?
Medical journals may have played an important part in providing the political justification for attacking Iraq, argues a public health expert in this week’s BMJ. view more (2003-04-10)
Random drug testing in schools is unworkable
Random drug testing in schools is unworkable because schools could not satisfy government criteria for introducing new screening programmes, claims a public health expert in this week's BMJ. The Department of Health has 19 criteria for introducing new screening programmes. At least 18 of these are not met for widespread drug urine analysis in... view more... (2004-03-10)
Benefit of public defibrillators is marginal
Making defibrillators widely available in public places such as airports and shopping centres is not justified by the marginal improvement in survival, finds a study in this week's BMJ. Researchers in Scotland used records of all out of hospital cardiac arrests due to heart disease from 1991-1998 to estimate the potential impact of public access... view more... (2002-09-04)
UK government should act now to regulate tobacco
Cigarettes are the deadliest form of nicotine delivery available on the market, yet are the least regulated. An editorial in this week's BMJ argues that the British government should act now to level the regulatory playing field for tobacco and nicotine. It is no coincidence that cigarettes have so far managed to escape regulation, writes... view more... (2003-01-16)
Managing and preventing obesity in Canadian adults and children
With 59% of Canadian adults being overweight and 23% being obese, plus the disturbing increase in childhood obesity, it is clear that obesity is a major individual and public health issue in Canada. view more (2007-04-10)
Antibiotics alter the normal bacterial flora in humans
Microbes researchers highlight drawbacks of antibiotics Antibiotics alter the normal bacterial flora in humans Bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics can live in the human intestines for at least one year. Professor Charlotta Edlund from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, and Research Professor Pentti Huovinen from the National... view more... (2004-03-17)
The Pharmaceutical Industry As Political Player (p 1498)
The second of four articles about the relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and medicine focuses on the political dynamic between industry and regulatory authorities. John Abraham from the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK, discusses how political frameworks designed to govern the pharmaceutical industry must, on the... view more... (2002-11-06)
Medically supervised injecting centres should be piloted in the UK
A programme of medically supervised injecting centres should be piloted in the UK, as part of an integrated public health strategy, say the authors of an article in this week's BMJ. Injecting centres - "designed to reduce the health and public order problems associated with illegal injection drug use" - have been set up in Australia,... view more... (2004-01-10)
Healthcare staff not prepared for flu pandemic
Nearly half of health workers surveyed would not go to work during an influenza pandemic. The results of a survey of health workers in Maryland, USA, published today in the open access journal BMC Public Health reveal that the staff's perceived importance of their role in the response to a pandemic is the most important factor influencing... view more... (2006-04-18)
Federal funding gap cited for research on human health impacts due to climate change
Climate change will seriously impact public health, but the United States has yet to allocate adequate research funding to understand and prepare for these impacts, according to a report published in Environmental Health Perspectives, the journal of the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. view more (2009-03-27)
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