In June 2009, the World Health Organization declared the swine flu outbreak to be a pandemic. Most of us will recall the grave concerns expressed by politicians and the media […]
Month: June 2014
The BMJ Today: Cozy conversations—coffee breaks and integrated care
If, like me, you have struggled with defining “integrated care,” then Richard Vize’s Feature on the subject is definitely worth a read, if only to be reassured that it is, as […]
David Berger: Stoushes, rorts, and cuts in Australian healthcare
To Europeans, Australia resembles the kind of alien planet so beloved of 1950s American science fiction writers. Strange, bounding animals hop across an arid, unfamiliar landscape, dotted with queer trees […]
Richard Smith: Rebranding and telling stories about NCD
I was delighted to be asked to organise this series of events on non-communicable diseases, but I had a problem—I had no idea what NCDs are or were. So Kate […]
The BMJ Today: High hopes—legal highs and pharmaceutical hype
The BMJ’s readers are used to maintaining scepticism in the face of hype and hyperbole, and two new articles suggest that this is a healthy position to maintain. Rory Watson reports on […]
K M Venkat Narayan: Global non-communicable diseases—the second in a series of reflections
On 30 April 2014, I wrote my first reflection on the topic of non-communicable diseases to whet your appetite, and promised seven more. My first reflection, if you recall, was: “Keep […]
Jim Murray: Policy making behind closed doors
Campaigning for transparency on clinical trial results at EU level is getting to be like playing snakes and ladders, and I’ve just spotted three snakes. I’ve been trying to “deconstruct” […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—2 June 2014
NEJM 29 May 2014 Vol 370 2071 This week’s New England Journal is dominated by three papers on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The editorial on them begins “I suspect that many […]
The BMJ Today: Sugar, kids, and cranberry cake
What should we eat? And to what extent can doctors influence the diet of their patients? Last week, NICE recommended that doctors send their overweight patients to Weight Watchers or […]