I am a medical student at Kathmandu Medical College. In today’s world, when the whole globe is in a campaign against HIV/AIDS, it might not seem to be of much issue if someone stands in front of the society and declares themselves to be HIV positive. Well, it certainly might not be a big issue in some societies, but it’s still a big issue in conservative and uneducated societies like Nepal. So, I would like to talk a little about different aspects of disclosing one’s HIV status in the society. (more…)

I am a medical student at Edinburgh University, Scotland, UK. While at school applying for University through UCAS (University and Colleges Admission Service), I was repeatedly told, “Think yes, Think UCAS”. This phrase had me rubbish collecting, coaching maths and almost teaching flower arranging at a retirement home, all with the hope of embellishing my CV. But now with applications to MTAS approaching (Medical Teaching Application Services- UK’s new medical post-graduate employment system), there’s a new mantra to learn and this one goes, “Think yes, think MTAS.”I feel somehow cheated that surviving in medical school isn’t enough. That it’s insufficient to attend lectures, ask complex questions or hover eagerly on the wards. Now with MTAS, passing all exams without psychological breakdown isn’t sufficient in the cut-throat world of junior doctor posts. You now need to be that 1st author publishing, committee chairing, nauseatingly organised ‘supermedic’. And this might not even impress if you hadn’t reflected on how it improved your communication skills. (more…)

We recently, quite rightly, had a go at tobacco companies so I thought you might be interested to hear about the latest weapon to fight the tabacco demon: MPOWER: Monitoring tobacco use, Protecting people from secondhand smoke, Offering help to quit, Warning about tobacco’s effects, Enforcing bans on advertising and sponsorship, and Raising taxes on tobacco products. Faith McLelland, the Lancet’s north American editor explains more about MPOWER in a Lancet editorial which I have copied for you below- Rhona

WHO report
Six steps away from averting a billion deaths
Americans are fond of complaining that they are “born free and taxed to death”. A new report from WHO recommends a public policy that would increase one particular form of taxation even further-a move that would effectively tax citizens everywhere to life instead. Increasing taxes on tobacco products is a proven method of reducing their consumption and is one of the six core interventions in the WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2008. (more…)

Hello! I want to draw your attention to a few things today. First, I hope you have noticed all of the electives reports which we have published this week. Please keep them coming in. Also, we have two podcasts this week which I have just loaded up onto our audio section. In the first, Richard Lane and I have a catch up on all that has been going on with The Lancet Student this week. Then in a special Lancet Student feature, Rob Hughes is joined by medical students Abi Smith and Gemma Owens (who are also the former and current President of Medsin respectively) , and Neil Pakenham-Walsh, the co-ordinator of the Health Information For All by 2015 (HIFA2015) Campaign, to discuss HIFA’s work.

HIFA2015 is the principal communication tool for the global campaign, ‘Healthcare Information For All by 2015′, which launched formally in Mombasa, Kenya, on 26th October 2006, at the 10th Congress of the Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa.  HIFA2015 is open to anyone with an interest in improving healthcare in developing countries. For further details  see www.ghi-net.org/campaign.

Finally, the last article in The Lancet series on undernutrition is published this week and I have copied the accompanying Lancet editorial below. As the editorial says, “it is absurd and profoundly unjust that, as many countries are putting their resources into tackling the obesity epidemic, many people throughout the world are continuing to starve to death.” So let’s all do something to address this outrageous situation now - Rhona (more…)

Rhona MacDonald and Richard Lane catch up on all that has been happening this week including the fire in Camden right next to The Lancet offices, and of course all of this week’s content published on TheLancetStudent.com and the the latest campaign on arms control.

And in a special Lancet Student feature, Rob Hughes is joined by medical students Abi Smith and Gemma Owens (who are also the former and current President of Medsin respectively) , and Neil Pakenham-Walsh, the co-ordinator of the Health Information For All by 2015 (HIFA2015) Campaign, to discuss HIFA’s work.

 

 Rhona MacDonald and Richard Lane catch up on all that has been going on with The Lancet Student this week: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Rob Hughes, Abi Smith, Gemma Owens, and Neil Pakenham-Walsh discuss the HIFA2015 campaign: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Photo from the Control Arms Campaign

You may have noticed that we are currently highlighting arms control (see the latest poll below and this week’s The Lancet Student Recommends slot to the left). Every year, roughly half a million men, women, and children around the world are killed by armed violence. So I thought you may be interested in the following two news items:

Ongoing talks on a Global Arms Trade Treaty: Currently, 28 delegates from every continent on the Group of Governmental Experts are starting  their first discussions on a global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in New York. The Group of Governmental Experts was appointed by the Secretary General to examine the feasibility, scope and parameters of an Arms Trade Treaty and report back to the UN General Assembly in October 2008.  In 2006, 153 states voted in the UN General Assembly to begin work on an Arms Trade Treaty - 24 states abstained and only the USA voted against.

Hundreds of non-governmental organisations have been campaigning since 2003 for a Treaty which would prohibit arms transfers that fuel conflict, poverty and serious human rights abuses. (more…)

From Invisibles (Pinguin Films)

I thoroughly recommend that as many of you as possible order the DVD of the film Invisibles. I recently reviewed it for The Lancet and I have copied my review for you below- details on how you can order it are at the end. Just to warn you now though, it is shocking viewing. I am organising a campaign to try to raise awareness of what is happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but more importantly, I am trying to get those who can do something about it, ie politicians and Governments etc, to do so. Please get in touch if you are interested in joining in or finding out more. Rhona

The unforgettable invisibles
Never has a film put me on such an emotional roller coaster as The Invisibles, which tells real-life stories from five neglected humanitarian crises-Chagas disease in Latin America, African sleeping sickness, violence in Colombia, child soldiers in northern Uganda, and the sexual assault of women and girls by soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

For me, two of these stories stand out: the smiling and crying faces of the children in northern Uganda as they describe what they did, and what happened to them; and the women and girls from the Democratic Republic of Congo who describe their experiences, each one unique, with courage and dignity. The women are filmed fading in and out of view as if to emphasise their invisibility. (more…)

Camden market on Saturday night. Courtesy of the BBC on-line

Hi there! I hope you had a good weekend. Our’s was rather interesting! The Lancet offices are based in Camden, right next to the famous Camden Market which caught fire over the weekend. Over 100 fire fighters to control the blaze. Amazingly, no one was killed and thankfully, the Lancet offices remain unharmed. So this seems like a good time to mention one of the peer reviewed articles that we have just published on Disaster Medicine. What is this I hear you ask? Good question and James Matheson who is a medical student at St George’s in London, UK, interviews Dr Maurice A. Ramirez, founder-chairman of the American Board of Disaster Medicine, and Rob Stellman, a student representative of the Catastrophes and Conflict Forum at the Royal Society of Medicine, to shed some light on this new and exciting speciality. I have also posted some announcements re disaster medicine competitions that are open to all medical students in the UK at the end of this blog entry.

We have also just published a peer reviewed article on maternal mortality in Afghanistan by Mahri Haider, a fourth year medical student from the University of Washington, USA. Statistics on maternal mortality in Afghanistan are among the worst in the world, second only to Sierra Leone but there is more to this issue than appalling statistics as Mahri explains. (more…)

Photo courtesy of the Control Arms Campaign (see below re the Geneva Convention and medical neutrality)

Hi there. Just to draw your attention to two new elective reports that we have published this week. Edward Armstrong writes about his experiences in Tanzania and Steven Naylor shares his time in Australia with us. And to celebrate the changes in our elective section which we announced this week (which will hopefully help to make this section a v useful resource for you), this week’s Lancet Student podcast focuses on electives.  Rob Hughes, a final year medical student at Bristol, UK, and the current intern with The Lancet and The Lancet Student, Patrick Howlett, another final year medical student at Bristol, and Edward Armstrong, a final year medical student at Imperial College, London, discuss their elective experiences in Sierra Leone and Tanzania. We have also published a peer reviewed article by Srimathy Vijayan who takes a global view of childhood epilepsies. So well done everyone and thanks to all involved.

I also want to highlight an editorial in this week’s Lancet which I have copied for you below. Tragically, the Geneva Convention on medical neutrality is frequently overlooked in modern day conflicts. This appalling situation is something that must NOT be allowed to continue. So please read it and see what you think. I hope you have a good weekend and catch up with you all next week. Bye for now! Rhona (more…)

This week we decided to make our Elective Reports an “anything goes” section. So elective reports can now be as long or as short as you like (within reason), remain unedited (unless for typos or MASSIVELY long etc) and will no longer be peer reviewed by our student reviewers. It is your chance to write an honest, personal, and informative account of your elective and to show off some of your photos. We hope that these changes will help this section become a very useful resource. So to celebrate this, Rob Hughes, a final year medical student at Bristol, UK, and the current intern with The Lancet and The Lancet Student,  Patrick Howlett, another final year medical student at Bristol, and Edward Armstrong, a final year medical student at Imperial College, London, discuss their elective experiences in Sierra Leone and Tanzania.

 

 Rob Hughes discusses electives with Patrick Howlett and Edward Armstrong: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download