City Health 2012 is undoubtedly the most ambitious—and in many ways the most important event—the London Drug and Alcohol Policy Forum has hosted in the twenty years of its existence.

We have hosted many events in that time on issues ranging from the needs of young people in terms of drug services, to helping improve effective enforcement to work for those who have been through problems with alcohol or drugs get back into employment and stable housing. In all the events I have been involved in there has been recognition of the fact that drug and alcohol problems do not occur in isolation, that multi-agency responses are needed to achieve maximum gain, and that we need to consider the broader social environment.   more…

Forecasting the future is a tricky task. It’s not brain surgery—just more difficult. Baroness Susan Greenfield, brain physiologist, writer, and broadcaster shared her four challenges for the future in the context of science and humanity at the RCGP-SAPC Annual Primary Care conference.

1) Nanotechnology. Describing how nanotechnology might change the world would be like trying to explain to someone in the middle ages how plastics would change our lives. She suggested   innovations in drug delivery systems, or smart sensors on our toothbrushes or in the loo that could screen for conditions or make a diagnosis. And, if you think it is all in the imagination, just remember that it is now possible to capture the electronic signal of thoughts prior to a movement and repeat it so a quadriplegic person can move a prosthetic limb. But, this also brings the frightening possibility of transhumanism—the  technological enhancement  human features. more…

Just as the Paralympics came to a close, members of the International Society for Social Pediatrics practised running on the West Sands beach on St Andrews where the opening scenes of Chariots of Fire was filmed and where local pupils re-enacted the run with the Olympic torch just a few weeks ago. The theme of empowerment of vulnerable children, so significant in the marvellous Paralympics, ran through this conference, the first since ESSOP (the European Society for Social Pediatrics) became ISSOP. more…

The last three plenary sessions of the Third People’s Health Assembly (PHA) were used to debate the People’s Health Movement’s (PHM) strategies and priorities for the future. These sessions enabled the health activists from around the world to build on their experiences, and devise the issues that the PHM will address in coming years. Key strategies agreed on were: strengthening country circles to act on the PHM’s Right to Health Campaign; a global campaign on the adverse health and environmental effects of extractive industries around the world; a food security campaign focusing on the health consequences of the growth of transnational food corporations, which are selling increasing amounts of high fat and sugar foods and drinks, and causing the obesity epidemic, as well as undermining indigenous food protection. Finally we agreed on a campaign against the privatisation of health services, which will document the ways in which public ownership and control of health services is being undermined by various forms of public private partnerships and outsourcing of previously publicly provided services. Each of these campaigns will form part of PHM’s broader focus on the right to health. more…

As the Third People’s Health Assembly (PHA) develops, it’s more and more obvious that global forces impact at a country level. Conversations about WHO reform, universal health coverage, and human resource constraints, among others, gave me an opportunity to reflect on how global forces shape issues at a national level. Some of these were raised at the South African National Health Assembly (NHA) that took place right before the PHA on 5 and 6 July 2012.   more…

Health systems around the world are designed for the rich, but our development goals, such as the millenium development goals, are focused on the poor. The solution? Reform our health systems so they work for the poor, in line with the Alma Ata message. Speaking at the opening of the 3rd People’s Health Assembly, organised by the International People’s Health Movement (PHM), South Africa’s Minister of Health, Aaron Motsoledi, went on to call for global support of efforts to ensure universal health coverage in an era when powerful forces are using every tool available to undermine such efforts. more…

The Third People’s Health Assembly got off to a rousing start yesterday with a plenary session addressed by the South African Minister of Health, Aaron Motsoaledi, who spoke of the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on his country  and also by Pat Anderson, chairperson of the Australian Lowitja Institute, who spoke passionately about the struggle of Aboriginal Australians to regain control over their land and of the health impact of centuries of dispossession and repression. The slogan of the Third People’s Health Assembly is “health for all now!” which harks back to World Health Organization’s unmet vision of health for all by the year 2000. It was fitting that the opening ceremony included a message from the Emeritus Director General of the WHO, Halfdan Mahler, who over saw the HFA2000 strategy and who stated that the People’s Health Movement (PHM) is now the loudest global voice for health equity. more…

Communicating risk is about numbers. If you think of any serious disease, the potential to reduce risk by 50% sounds fantastic. If the incidence is 2/10 and you reduce the risk by 50% you save one life in 10. If the incidence is 2/100 you save one life in 100. If the incidence is 2/1000 you save one life in 1000. So, are decisions on screening simply about dealing with relative risk reduction, absolute risk reduction, and the numbers needed to treat? Not quite. When you add in all the other epidemiological factors associated with screening it becomes very complicated. No wonder experts disagree and the public becomes confused. more…

Could the CEO of a South African hotel chain help the NHS improve how we respond when things go wrong? At last week’s Risky Business 2012 conference, Arthur Gillis, CEO of the largest chain of hotels in South Africa, gave a presentation about embedding an excellent customer service approach among employees working in his hotels. He outlined seven steps that underpin excellent customer-focused culture when things go wrong: more…

Sometimes, while attending a World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, I get the feeling that I am in a parallel universe where diplomat speak serves to smooth over unresolvable conflict and where we are discussing not the world as it is but a fantasyland. That feeling was never stronger than when listening to contributions from the US delegation during the worst of the Bush era. Maintaining a connection with the reality of inequality and preventable death and disease is made more difficult by the grandeur of the Palais des Nations with its marble halls and stunning views over Lake Geneva. more…