I completed my pediatric training in 1989, the same year that the Canadian parliament voted unanimously to eradicate child poverty in this country by the year 2000. At that time, the LICO poverty rate was 15.1% (LICO = low-income cut-off, or the proportion of the population who spend more than 2/3 of their pre-tax income on basic food, shelter and clothing). As of 2006, the rate was still 15.8%, suggesting that we’ve failed to honor our legislative commitment, with 700,000 Canadian children still below the LICO threshold. Lest I be accused of exaggerating, we do even worse by other metrics, such as the low-income measure (LIM, or the proportion living on less than half the median income), which saw 1.6 million (23.1%) of Canadian children living below the poverty line.

Continue Reading...

Thirty years ago, representatives of 134 WHO member states convened in Alma- Ata to discuss global health issues and the potential of primary health care to address huge needs. The Alma-Ata Declaration advocated the implementation of primary care health systems as a central strategy to achieve “Health for All by 2000” noting that an estimated 2 billion of the world’s people lacked access to health care at that time. This declaration met with significant resistance from various interest groups in 1978 but fortunately, its central strategy has gained momentum in recent years. The Lancet, in its September 13-16, 2008 issue, has revisited Alma-Ata with an editorial and extensive comments and articles.

Continue Reading...

A “Perspective,” published in the New England Journal of Medicine (359.8: 783-786, 2008), highlights the persisting, devastating global impact of preventable water-related diseases. Most of the 1.1 billion people who regularly lack access to sufficient, clean water live in low-income countries but recent natural disasters remind us that populations in any corner of the globe can be affected.

Who is working on these problems and where? If those working on producing sources of safe water and those involved in measuring its health impact post weblogs briefly describing their work, a productive dialogue might be generated on this website. If you are not directly involved in this field, spread the word to colleagues who are.

We hope to hear from you.

Richard Hamilton

Is the Advanced Market Commitment (AMC) a good model for technology transfer, and why we should care?

Background link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_market_commitments

Continue Reading...

A couple of weeks ago, our local newspaper ran a rather indignant editorial on the subject of gasoline price fixing, with the unambiguous title “Price fixing is bad no matter who does it”, a sentiment I happen to whole-heartedly endorse. It did however remind me of a related story that may be even closer to home for members of this list, since it touches on important public health issues and how theyʼre dealt with in the popular press. It also highlighted --- to my non-journalist eyes at least --- a rather disturbing lack of editorial consistency. Since the related story is currently makings its tangled way through the courts in several countries with members on this list, I was curious as to how well the media were covering it in other jurisdications.

Continue Reading...

AIDS Prevention Spotlighted by Gender Mainstreaming

Anirudha Alam

Spread of HIV/AIDS results in risk of losing forms of social and economic protection. There is no doubt that onslaught of HIV/AIDS is closely associated with gender inequality and poor respect for the rights of women. So to mitigate the multiple impacts of epidemic, gender mainstreaming should be significantly integrated into HIV/AIDS prevention programs. Eventually, HIV prevention and impact mitigation policy will be able to make the realization of gender equality one of the most important strategies.

Continue Reading...

En-gendering AIDS Prevention Gateway to Sustainable Development

Anirudha Alam

Nowadays gender discrimination is the key challenge for sustainable development. It widens the likelihood of HIV/AIDS epidemic. So we have to alleviate all the discriminations as regards achieving ownership, leadership and dignity, enjoying freedom, controlling resources, accessing to information, establishing rights, making decision, grooming voices, taking responsibility as well as participating in development activities.

Continue Reading...

Gender Awareness, Stepping Stone to HIV Prevention

Anirudha Alam

The spread of HIV and STI is mounting in developing countries through gender inequality and taboos around sexuality. It results in discrimination and stigma associated with drastic poverty and marginalization. Leading to empowerment, happiness and well being, gender awareness can help to promote both rights to be free of violence and coercion around sexuality. Sexual rights, an inclusive framework, guide to have knowledge of the links between different sexuality issues thoroughly recognizing that campaign against sexual violence must continue.

Continue Reading...

From the BBC: Article about a possible gene which may be linked with pre-eclampsia women - bringing with it the possibility of better diagnostics and treatment:

Pre-eclampsia accounts for 15% of all premature deliveries in the UK.

This is because the only way to completely cure pre-eclampsia is to deliver the baby. Left untreated, the condition can lead to convulsions, kidney failure and serious liver problems.

The researchers from Harvard Medical School looked at proteins which may be involved in pre-eclampsia by affecting the level of oxygen delivered to the placenta.

They settled on COMT (catechol-O-methyltransferase), an enzyme involved in the development of new blood vessels and a protein it produces called 2-methoxyoestradiol (2-ME).

Continue Reading...