60 health ministers and 1000 participants from around the world are attending the Rio Conference. Wednesday afternoon was a plenary session which featured contributions from a panel of speakers. Margaret […]
Guest writers
Fran Baum on the background to the WHO Rio conference
This week the World Health Organization and the Brazilian Government are jointly hosting the World Conference on Social Determinants of Health in Rio de Janeiro from 19 to 21 October […]
Alison Spurrier: Caring for older people
To care for older people one vital ingredient is needed…time. Nothing can be rushed. Everybody needs to be washed, have their teeth cleaned, their mouths checked and cleaned, and their nails […]
Anna Dixon: Do we need more generalists in our hospitals?
Medicine is becoming increasingly specialised: there are now almost 30 sub-specialties within the Royal College of Physicians alone. This is partly in response to the exponential rate at which scientific […]
Joseph Ana: Breast flattening, ironing, straightening, and pounding: a new form of violence against girls and women
Until a few weeks ago, I had never heard about the cultural barbarism of breast flattening, a native attempt to delay the development of a girl’s breasts so that they […]
Aneez Esmail: Understanding patient safety in general practice
It was a comment that I made in an interview for a BBC 4 File on Four programme that caught the eye of producers at Channel 4’s Dispatches programme. I […]
Aser García Rada: Ex-smokers are unstoppable
For the first time a large European awareness campaign to help smokers quit focuses on the positive aspects of doing so, rather than highlighting cancer, heart disease, or death. We […]
Bob Roehr: The changing complexity of HIV vaccine trials
Successes in treating and preventing HIV infections are making it more difficult, more expensive, and perhaps more uncertain to plan and conduct HIV vaccine trials in the countries most affected […]
Peter Johnson: Reforming the European Clinical Trials Directive
The European Clinical Trials Directive (EUCTD) has been a contentious issue across the UK’s medical research community since its introduction in 2004. Promising to bring a unified system of approvals […]
Bob Roehr: Rise of the antibodies
The focus of HIV vaccine research has shifted over time as one aspect or another has offered more of a glimmer of hope for success. Lack of progress in creating […]