health
Treatment of Cognitive Impairment in Schizophrenia
Impairments in everyday functional outcomes are very common in people with schizophrenia and these impairments are associated with deficits in cognitive functioning. Cognitive enhancement has been proposed as a pathway to disability reduction. This pathway has been clearly defined in terms of the required clinical trials methods, with primary (cognitive) and secondary (functional) outcome measures well validated. Second generation (Newer, Atypical) antipsychotic medications have been thoroughly evaluated with their cognitive enhancement potential. Read more about this session.
[Editorial] The health of deaf people: communication breakdown
In their Review on the mental health of deaf people published in The Lancet this week, Johannes Fellinger and colleagues write about the social adversity associated with deafness, the high prevalence of depression and anxiety among deaf people, and the barriers they face in accessing mental health services. At the heart of these issues is the problem of communication. In mental health, as in all areas of medicine, good communication is the bedrock of diagnosis and treatment.
[Comment] Deafness might damage your health
One in seven people in the UK are deaf, most of whom are hard of hearing. About 70 000 of these individuals are profoundly deaf, either from birth or before acquiring speech. Most communicate through British Sign Language (BSL) as their first or preferred language, rather than spoken English. These individuals together form the Deaf community, with their own language, culture, and history.
[Comment] The CDC's Center for Global Health
The strategy of the recently established Center for Global Health (CGH) at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is to enhance the public health capacity of global partners, increase global health security, and maximise the health impact of specific programmes and interventions through a focus on scientific rigour, scalability, and sustainability. We welcome the opportunity to describe the work of CGH and are committed to continuing to increase our impact.
[Comment] Offline: The “pess-optimists” of health in Palestine
Tony Laurance is a Briton abroad with a difficult mission. He is WHO's Head of Office for the occupied Palestinian territory. At a meeting held last week in Beirut, he spoke about the barriers facing Palestinians who need to access health services. He described their requirements for health care as “pretty basic rights”. But he invited his audience of over 150 researchers and health professionals from 15 countries to consider the realities facing the 4·1 million women, children, and men of Palestine.
[Perspectives] Defending democracy and the National Health Service
The dismantling of the National Health Service (NHS) and of the welfare state proceeds apace. The historic settlement of 1948, born of the recession of the 1920s and 1930s and the carnage of World War 2, is being picked apart systematically by the UK's Coalition Government, which ironically includes the remnants of the Liberal Party that played such an important part in building the foundations of the welfare state in 1906 and 1911.
[Correspondence] Medical students speak out on detrimental National Health Service reforms
Medsin-UK (a group of students with more than 3000 members across the UK) is calling for the Health and Social Care Bill to be dropped. In addition to the concerns highlighted by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), medical students have major concerns that the reforms are potentially detrimental to medical education.
[Correspondence] Health and Social Care Bill: RCPCH responds
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) does indeed share many of the concerns about the Health and Social Care Bill noted in the letter by Stuart Logan and colleagues (Feb 25, p 707). Examples of such support can be found in the Summer 2011 RCPCH Newsletter and my piece in the BMJ. The RCPCH has more than 10 000 members in the UK and we are in the midst of seeking their views by an online survey.
[Correspondence] Health and the financial crisis in Greece
My scientific and institutional role obliges me to comment, from a political perspective, on Alexander Kentikelenis and colleagues' Correspondence: “Health effects of financial crisis: omens of a Greek tragedy” (Oct 22, p 1457). Indeed there are problems in the Greek health system. However, Kentikelenis and colleagues' criticism is based on 2007–09 data, under Greece's conservative administration, and not on recent data under the present socialist administration. This “tragic” national health service (NHS) witnessed a 20% increase in admissions in 2010 compared with 2009.