February 19th 2009
This week in medicine
The following will appear in the Feb 21 issue of The Lancet:
Good news GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has pledged commitment to improve global public health. Promises include a 75% reduction in drug prices in the world’s least developed countries, and reinvestment of at least 20% of profits made in these countries into health-care infrastructure. GSK will also put patents pertaining to neglected tropical diseases into a “patent pool”, to encourage others to invest in research for these diseases.
FAST The UK Government has launched a strategy to raise awareness of the signs of stroke. The FAST campaign-Face, Arm, Speech, Time to call 999-is being broadcast on television and radio and published in print adverts. Officials hope it will reduce the number of stroke deaths in the country. Stroke is currently the main cause of disability in the UK, and the third most common cause of death.
Cyclone aid Donations to help Burma recover from cyclone Nargis will need to top US$619 million over the next 3 years, according to a joint report from UN agencies, government officials, and representatives from the Association of South-East Asian Nations. Nargis struck in May, 2008, killing 140 000 people and leaving many more homeless.
Landmark ruling Five cancer survivors and the widow of a sixth patient can now seek compensation for loss of sperm samples in 2003 during storage at Southmead Hospital in Bristol. The UK’s Court of Appeal ruled that sperm donations provided for storage for use in future fertility treatment can be thought of as property, reversing a previous County Court decision.
Human trafficking Trafficking of people is a massive but poorly understood problem according to a report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, which highlights deficits in legislation to prevent trafficking and to convict perpetrators. Trafficking of women for sexual exploitation accounts for 79% of trade in people-30% of the perpetrators of which might themselves be women, the report found.
Doctors’ dilemma Doctors in Italy have hit out against a new bill that has been passed by the government, which requires them to report illegal immigrants that they are treating. The legislation means that confidentiality agreements between doctors and patients would be breached but physicians could face criminal charges if they fail to alert the authorities.
A bitter pill The US Food and Drug Administration has forced Bayer pharmaceuticals to run a series of television advertisements correcting previous marketing of the company’s bestselling oral contraceptive Yaz. Past material had played up the pill’s beneficial effects on premenstrual dysphoric disorder and acne, while downplaying side-effects.
AIDS battle South Africa’s health minister has said that the government aims to provide antiretroviral therapy (ARV) to 1·5 million people living with HIV/AIDS over the next 3 years. Around 5·7 million people in South Africa have HIV/AIDS, but at present just 700 000 are receiving ARV. The announcement came at a ceremony held in Khayelitsha to mark the first foreign visit of the new head of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibe.
Gates releases bugs At a Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) Conference on the spread of malaria in developing countries, Bill Gates released mosquitoes to fly around the auditorium to make a point about the need for more money to fight malaria. Despite initially claiming that it shouldn’t be just poor people exposed to the insects, he eventually reassured the audience that the mosquitoes were disease free.
Rejuvenated research Barack Obama’s Keynesian spending boost promises to benefit scientific and medical research in the USA, at least in the short term. The NIH-which currently spends around US$29 billion annually-could receive extra funding of up to US$10 billion over 2 years, with the final amount yet to be decided.
Costly condoms Campaigners in Ukraine are worried that recent price increases on condoms will prevent people from having safe sex and increase the country’s rates of sexually-transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS. Imported condoms are now 40-60% more expensive than they were in October last year because the value of the Ukrainian currency has dropped.
Do it yourself Research by Which? suggests that about 3 million people have tried doing their own dentistry-pulling out teeth with pliers or string tied to a door handle, whitening teeth with cleaning products, using glue for loose fillings or crowns, popping an ulcer with a pin, and mending dentures. Self-dentistry is not just the result of fear of dentists; for many people, good dental treatment is hard to obtain.
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