Are you interested in hearing some “insider” information? As you may know, The Lancet comes out in print, and goes on-line, every Friday. I work very closely with our press officer, Tony Kirby, to decide which articles we should choose for press release every week. We send out the press releases every Wednesday which are embargoed until the Friday. So Friday is usually the day when Lancet articles get the most media coverage.

Every Friday, it never fails to amaze me which articles the newspapers and other media choose to cover. This week is no exception. We published a Lancet editorial about white coats,  saying that there is no evidence to support the UK Government’s decision to ban them as part of its strategy to control hospital-acquired infection. It has been picked up everywhere. ITV News contacted us to see if someone would speak about it and lots of other requests are coming in.

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The International Health mentorship project

 It is not really Rhona’s blog today. I am handing straight over to Kelly Anderson, National Officer of Public Health at the Canadian Federation of Medical Students, to tell you all about The International Health Mentorship Project she has founded. It sounds amazing. She also explains the rationale behind it and sets a few challenges. Take it away Kelly—Rhona

Kelly Anderson

Despite growing and enthusiastic interest from students, it is clear that not all medical school curricula prepare future physicians to work in the international health sector.  While keen students and faculty work tirelessly to advocate for and build relevant curriculum, many medical students are left to fend for themselves as they search for a career path in international health.  How should we approach our independent education in pressing global health issues while in the thick of our medical training?  

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Hi there. It’s Rhona here. It’s good to be back. I have missed you. But this is not a day for chatting. This is a very significant day for human rights and global health.

After years of being ignored by the international media, Burma is now in the spotlight. Events are constantly evolving and no one knows what will happen next. 19 years ago, students led the uprising against the military junta and over 3000 people were killed. This time, Monks are leading the way. But how will the situation end? Every newscast is pontificating on this right now and international leaders are undecided.

This may be the first time that many have heard about the humanitarian misery of the Burmese people and the human rights abuses imposed on them by the military government which has been in power since 1962. But there is also a health disaster happening in Burma right now that has received little attention.

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Copyright - WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION 

And here is the second part of yesterday’s conference update

For those of you with an avid interest in global health research… and those who conveniently already live in mainland China, the following conference may just ignite a spark of interest. Between the 29^th of October to the 2^nd of November, the Global forum will be hosting its annual meeting in Beijing, entitled ‘Equitable Access: Research challenges for health in developing countries’. During these five days, policy-makers, research institutions, NGOs and health ministries worldwide, will all come together to reflect on the key challenges faced by the poorest and most marginalised countries, including access to affordable medicines and social inequity.

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Hi everyone, this week we intend to enlighten you about two interesting and upcoming conferences in the arena of global health. The first is on nuclear proliferation and its’ impact on health. The second is run by the global health forum and looks at research challenges for health in developing countries.   

“Nuclear Proliferation: The final pandemic”

Nuclear proliferation has been a source of heated debate for many years. However, the impact that nuclear proliferation has on health has received renewed interest following the collapse of the 2005 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

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As promised, here is the lowdown on the launch of The Lancet’s Energy and Health series. But not from me! Huge thanks to our two students working in The Lancet Offices at the moment, Jo Tuthill and Aditi Das.

(From left to right - Dr Paul Wilkinson, James Woodcock, Dr Richard Horton, Professor Andy Haines, Dr John Powles)

In the midst of the current debate over climate change, a vital and novel issue has been cast to the side line: the effect of energy on health. Yesterday, in response to this gap in knowledge, The Lancet hosted a Series on Energy and Health, with a press launch at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

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Hi folks, just a quick note to thank you for the overwhelming response to Rhona’s call to action last week—my computer nearly blew up when I visited the student in-box just now, around 80 offers from students around the world offering to help with blogging, article reviewing, and other contributions to thelancetstudent.com

Anyway, the enthusiasm is fantastic, and although Rhona-less for a couple of weeks I’ll do my best to get back to as many of you as possible; but that said, please be patient if it takes a wee while (as Rhona would say) before you hear from us.

Tomorrow sees the launch of our latest lancet series —Energy and Health—and Jo Tuthill, a fifth-year student from Kings College London, currently doing some work experience in the Lancet office here in London, will attend the launch and blog about it for TLS. So look out for that soon.

Hi everyone, Rhona is away for a couple of weeks so we wanted to let you know that we’ll try and keep TLS moving as much as possible, though without the indefatigable Rhona this could be tricky! Do keep sending us your feedback on the site and ideas for new content; in return we’ll keep you up to speed with events this week; the highlight will doubtless be the launch of The Lancet’s Energy and Health series on Wednesday Sept 12, with full online publication on Thursday Sept 13. More anon.

Best wishes.
Richard Lane, Web Editor.

Gordon Brown officially launched the International Health Partnership today

I am just back from a reception at Westminster hosted by Douglas Alexander, the UK Secretary of State for International Development, to mark the launch of a new initiative-the International Health Partnership. Gordon Brown, the UK Prime Minister officially launched the partnership at number 10 Downing street a few hours ago. So what exactly is this International Health Partnership? 

Basically, it is an agreement between donors and developing countries to improve the coverage and use of health services in order to deliver improved health outcomes. Douglas Alexander wrote a Comment for The Lancet explaining more about the partnership which you can read here and I have also copied below an accompanying Lancet leader about it. There is also some information about it on DFID’s (Department For International Development) website and the Downing Street website.

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Photo from WHO

I promised to tell you more about The Lancet’s Global Mental Health series when the embargo had been officially lifted. Well, today, if you click here, you can read the synopsis of the series and listen to the whole recording of yesterday’s press launch. And I know it is a bit of a hassle, but if you spend just a few minutes registering with TheLancet.com, you will be able to read the whole series for free.

I have copied Richard Horton’s introductory Comment to the series below (just in case there are a few of you who haven’t yet registered with TheLancet.com!) as who better to tell you about the series?! He makes a very strong case for making mental health more of a global priority. And what about his last paragraph? Wouldn’t it be FANTASTIC if TheLancetStudent could join this social movement to strengthen global health? What do you think? Are you interested? If so, please let me know-Thanks- Rhona

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