Providing Surgical Services Should Be Global Public Health Priority:
When you think of public health efforts in developing countries, you probably think of childhood vaccinations, programs for clean water, malaria and TB eradication campaigns. Surgery is rarely considered as a tool for improving the health of the world's poorest people. Prompted by an article in their on-line journal suggesting that it should be, the editors of PLoS Medicine have added their voice to the discussion.
- Log in to post comments
More like this
These last couple of days were very exciting here at PLoS. After months of preparation and hard work, PLoS presents the latest addition to its collection of top-notch scientific journals. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases went live yesterday at 6:42pm EDT. This journal will be
...the first open-…
By Sara Gorman
In response to the realization that between 16% and 49% of people in the world have psychiatric and neurological disorders and that most of these individuals live in low- and middle-income countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Mental Health Gap Action Programme…
Well, you certainly can't fault Obama for aiming high. Via satellite, Obama announced at yesterday's Clinton Global Initiative forum that he would provide support to end malaria deaths in Africa by 2015--a lofty goal, but is it even close to attainable?
Obama provided the basics of his plan here…
I can hardly do Dr. William Foege justice with a short introduction. He is one of the scientists who led the global smallpox eradication efforts. He developed the concept of ring vaccination, which targeted vaccination to those individuals around a known case of smallpox. This concept really made…
It's food for thought. Without access to expert surgeons, I'd now be living with two different, utterly miserable chronic pain conditions instead of being healthy and active. My mother-in-law would have lost her ability to walk without pain before she turned 70, and one of my best friends would have been immobilized by a serious health condition in her thirties. Several other people close to me would have been permanently disabled at early ages by common injuries. And my mother would not be a tough and amazingly resilient 89-year-old now -- she'd probably have died of cancer in her sixties.
We take these things completely for granted if we're in a developed nation and have health insurance. Maybe more basic health infrastructure (like vaccines and clean water) is what saves more lives, but most of us can't even imagine what it would be like to permanently lose our mobility and livelihood because of a few bones broken in an accident. I definitely want to read the article now.