[World Report] Frontline: a Safe Hospital on the border with Haiti
The Caribbean island of Hispaniola is split by a border that separates the Dominican Republic and Haiti. It sits above a major fault zone, which puts the two countries at constant risk of earthquakes, such as the catastrophic tremor of 2010 that brought Haiti to its knees. Over the past 500 years, the island has been hit by several tsunamis generated by earthquakes. Hurricanes also pass through Hispaniola almost every year, further battering the vulnerable island. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 16, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Joe Parkin Daniels Tags: World Report Source Type: research
[World Report] Life after death —surviving the attacks on civilians in Syria
Now entering its eigth year, there is no end to the Syrian war in sight. Civilian casualties are rising, as the bereaved see no respite in the violence that robbed them of their families. Sharmila Devi reports. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 16, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Sharmila Devi Tags: World Report Source Type: research
[Comment] Offline: Owning up on gender equality
There are moments to admit failure. Gender equality is one of those moments. Last week, the first report on gender-responsiveness among the world's most influential global health organisations —The Global Health 50/50 Report—was launched in London. Led by Sarah Hawkes and Kent Buse, together with a largely voluntary team of researchers, strategists, and communications experts, and housed within the University College London Centre for Gender and Global Health, Global Health 50/50 exam ines seven domains of gender equality across 140 organisations. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 16, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Richard Horton Tags: Comment Source Type: research
[Comment] The future of the NHS: no longer the envy of the world?
The UK's National Health Service (NHS) is one of the most comprehensive public health-care systems in the world and has provided free, high-quality care to millions of people since its inception. It was established on July 5, 1948, with the National Health Service Act based on the bold assumption within the 1942 Beveridge Report that a post-war UK would have “a national health service for prevention and for cure of disease and disability” that “will ensure that for every citizen there is available whatever medical treatment he requires, in whatever form he requires”. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 16, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Elias Mossialos, Alistair McGuire, Michael Anderson, Emma Pitchforth, Astrid James, Richard Horton Tags: Comment Source Type: research
[Editorial] End of the road for daclizumab in multiple sclerosis
On March 7, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended the immediate suspension and recall of the multiple sclerosis drug daclizumab. The announcement follows reports of serious inflammatory brain disorders in 12 patients worldwide, including three deaths, and comes shortly after the voluntary withdrawal of the drug by Biogen and AbbVie on March 2. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 16, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: The Lancet Tags: Editorial Source Type: research
[Editorial] The scars of violence on children
In the first 11 weeks of 2018, there have been 12 school shootings. Although shootings on school campuses only make up a tiny fraction of gun injuries and deaths annually, a March report from the Giffords Law Center focuses on the deep impact of gun violence on children in the USA, elaborating on how it extends far beyond the classroom. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 16, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: The Lancet Tags: Editorial Source Type: research
[Editorial] China through the lens of health in 2018 and beyond
On March 11, China's National People's Congress, the top legislative body, approved major constitutional changes that would enable President Xi Jinping to stay in power for more than two terms in office. The healthy China strategy was reviewed in the annual government work report, released by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the National People's Congress on March 5, with several key aspects highlighted. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 16, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: The Lancet Tags: Editorial Source Type: research
[Series] Delivering modern, high-quality, affordable pathology and laboratory medicine to low-income and middle-income countries: a call to action
Modern, affordable pathology and laboratory medicine (PALM) systems are essential to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals for health in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). In this last in a Series of three papers about PALM in LMICs, we discuss the policy environment and emphasise three crucial high-level actions that are needed to deliver universal health coverage. First, nations need national strategic laboratory plans; second, these plans require adequate financing for implementation; and last, pathologists themselves need to take on leadership roles to advocate for the centrality of PALM to achiev...
Source: LANCET - March 15, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Susan Horton, Richard Sullivan, John Flanigan, Kenneth A Fleming, Modupe A Kuti, Lai Meng Looi, Sanjay A Pai, Mark Lawler Tags: Series Source Type: research
[Series] Improving pathology and laboratory medicine in low-income and middle-income countries: roadmap to solutions
Insufficient awareness of the centrality of pathology and laboratory medicine (PALM) to a functioning health-care system at policy and governmental level, with the resultant inadequate investment, has meant that efforts to enhance PALM in low-income and middle-income countries have been local, fragmented, and mostly unsustainable. Responding to the four major barriers in PALM service delivery that were identified in the first paper of this Series (workforce, infrastructure, education and training, and quality assurance), this second paper identifies potential solutions that can be applied in low-income and middle-income co...
Source: LANCET - March 15, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Shahin Sayed, William Cherniak, Mark Lawler, Soo Yong Tan, Wafaa El Sadr, Nicholas Wolf, Shannon Silkensen, Nathan Brand, Lai Meng Looi, Sanjay A Pai, Michael L Wilson, Danny Milner, John Flanigan, Kenneth A Fleming Tags: Series Source Type: research
[Series] Access to pathology and laboratory medicine services: a crucial gap
As global efforts accelerate to implement the Sustainable Development Goals and, in particular, universal health coverage, access to high-quality and timely pathology and laboratory medicine (PALM) services will be needed to support health-care systems that are tasked with achieving these goals. This access will be most challenging to achieve in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), which have a disproportionately large share of the global burden of disease but a disproportionately low share of global health-care resources, particularly PALM services. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 15, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Michael L Wilson, Kenneth A Fleming, Modupe A Kuti, Lai Meng Looi, Nestor Lago, Kun Ru Tags: Series Source Type: research
[Perspectives] Kenneth Fleming: making the global case for pathology
Some years ago, and while still occupying a senior post in the administration of medical training and research at the UK's University of Oxford, pathologist Kenneth Fleming was at a meeting in Bangkok. He got talking to a fellow Oxford academic who was living and working in Thailand. On enquiring if he could help locally in any way, Fleming learned that the country had a pressing need for more staff and resources in pathology. This was the first time he realised that the provision of pathology services was a major but neglected problem not only in that part of Asia but also over much of the globe. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 15, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Geoff Watts Tags: Perspectives Source Type: research
[Comment] Pathology and laboratory medicine in partnership with global surgery: working towards universal health coverage
Pathology and laboratory medicine (PALM) is the backbone of high-quality care across many specialties, particularly surgery. In surgery, PALM provides the cross-match to keep patients with bleeding ectopic pregnancies alive, the histopathology that differentiates a benign colonic polyp from a malignancy, the biochemistry that allows safe titration of anaesthetics, and the forensic pathology that quantifies the burden of disease. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 15, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Isabelle Citron, Kristin Sonderman, John G Meara Tags: Comment Source Type: research
[Comment] Laboratory medicine in low-income and middle-income countries: progress and challenges
Laboratory medicine is essential for disease detection, surveillance, control, and management.1 However, access to quality-assured laboratory diagnosis has been a challenge in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) resulting in delayed or inaccurate diagnosis and ineffective treatment with consequences for patient safety.1 In the new Lancet Series2 –4 on pathology and laboratory medicine (PALM) in LMICs, Michael Wilson and colleagues2 provide a comprehensive analysis of the challenges and gaps that limit access to PALM services. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 15, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: John N Nkengasong, Katy Yao, Philip Onyebujoh Tags: Comment Source Type: research
[Comment] Pathology and laboratory medicine: the Cinderella of health systems
High-quality pathology and laboratory medicine (PALM) services are an integral part of health systems in high-income countries. New molecular diagnostic techniques, advances in precision cancer treatments, and population-based screening programmes for disease prevention or early detection have made PALM an even more important part of modern medicine and health care. And yet, even in high-income countries, the role of PALM is not well understood by the general public, and pathology remains a somewhat unpopular specialty in medicine. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 15, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Sabine Kleinert, Richard Horton Tags: Comment Source Type: research
[Department of Error] Department of Error
Park KB, Khan U, Seung K. Open letter to The Global Fund about its decision to end DPRK grants. Lancet 2018; 391: 1257 —In this Correspondence (published online first on March 14, 2018), the following sentence should have read “UK is a Director of Interactive Research& Development. ” This correction has been made to the online version as of March 15, 2018, and the printed Correspondence is correct. (Source: LANCET)
Source: LANCET - March 15, 2018 Category: General Medicine Tags: Department of Error Source Type: research
