Public Health
Little international agreement over burning issue of vaping
January 14th, 2019 Despite much debate in the United Kingdom and United States there is little agreement over how safe e-cigarettes are, write University of Edinburgh public health Professor Linda Bauld and the University of Liverpool’s Dr Suzi Gagein The...
Nigeria isn’t doing enough to reduce tobacco use. Here’s why
January 14th, 2019 Tobacco remains the biggest public health threat, killing more than seven million people globally every year. The World Health Organization has recognised progress in Nigeria, but concerns remain about effective implementation, write researchers...Speed up public health decisions on scabies by skipping full-body exams
In public health settings, limiting examination for scabies to the exposed components of both limbs had high sensitivity compared to full body examination, found a London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine data analysis. For years, the...
Cosatu angered by delays and Health Dept divisions over NHI
December 12th, 2018 The slow pace at which the government is moving on the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill has drawn the ire of Cosatu, which plans to raise the issue at a meeting between the ANC and its alliance partners, Cosatu and the SA Communist Party. Cosatu...
NHI plans are ‘an act of desperation’ — DA
December 12th, 2018 Plans by the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, to push ahead with the National Health Insurance are ‘an act of desperation ... doomed to failure’, writes Lindy Wilson, Democratic Alliance deputy shadow minister of health in the Daily...
Exit of more than 8,000 Cuban doctors puts Brazil in a 'state of panic'
December 5th, 2018 A rupture between Havana and Brazil's new far-right president-elect has triggered the immediate withdrawal of all the more than 8,000 doctors that were part of Cuba's international 'white-coat' medical diplomacy, reports The Daily Telegraph. The...
When common sense and sound judgment go up in smoke
December 5th, 2018 Government’s proposed anti-tobacco bill lacks any scientific assessment as an underlying principle of legislation, argues Tim Cohen, senior editor of Business Day. In a news story, Nick Hedley says tobacco company Philip Morris International sees...
Mischievous responders misleading LGBQ researchers
December 5th, 2018 Many research studies have reported on the elevated health risk and deviance of youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or questioning (LGBQ). But a study using US national data suggests that many of those estimates may be overstated and that...It's time for Canada's government to stop withholding the truth from smokers
Good public health policy empowers people to make better, informed personal health decisions – rather than punishing them – write David T Sweanor, chair of the advisory board of the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics at the University of...
Troublesome issues in e-cigarette policy in America
December 3rd, 2018 The Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) and e-cigarette policy scene continues to evolve in a direction that will result in substantially more tobacco-related addiction, illness and death, than what would likely occur with the skilled addition of a THR...
Investors pour money into addiction treatment, but quality questions remain
December 3rd, 2018 In the midst of a nationwide epidemic of drug addiction, the United States has a big shortage of high quality providers offering treatment to people with substance use disorders, writes Harris Meyer for Modern Healthcare. Private equity firms are...
Decrease in malaria deaths flatlining
November 28th, 2018 Despite a few bright spots, the recently released World Malaria Report paints a gloomy picture of stagnating progress and increasing concentration of the burden of one of the world’s most lethal diseases, says a Financial Times report. Paraguay...
Motsoaledi lashed for saying illegals are burdening health system
November 21st, 2018 Amnesty International and the Public Protector’s Office have lashed Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi over his statement that illegal and undocumented immigrants are putting an impossible burden on South Africa’s health system. “It has...
Identifying potentially unsafe restaurants via patrons' search history
November 21st, 2018 A new computer model links Google searches for terms like "stomach cramps" to smartphone location history data to determine which restaurants those people had recently visited, to identify potentially unsafe establishments for health...
Africa bears the brunt of the counterfeit medicine curse
November 21st, 2018 Almost half the fake and low-quality medicines reported to the World Health Organisation between 2013 and 2017 were found to be in sub-Saharan Africa, found an EU-funded report. Moustapha Dieng came down with stomach pains one day last month he...