London School Of Hygiene And Tropical Medicine Audio News - Lshtm Podcast

STOCKHOLM—The severe lack of sanitation in urban areas worldwide was explored at “World Water Week” — the annual conference just held in Stockholm for policy-makers and researchers specialising in water and sanitation. On his return from Stockholm, Guy Collender, of the SHARE research consortium, which is led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, discussed the consortium’s conference sessions on the challenges and solutions related to urban sanitation, and small-scale finance.

LONDON— A strong relationship between the amount of funding available for Britain’s National Health Service and the survival and quality of life of the population has been reported in a study published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine looking at mortality and the NHS. Professor Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine discusses the implications for health system planners in the UK and globally.

LONDON—The importance of continuing to use insecticide treated bed-nets in malaria-affected regions has been emphasised by a leading expert commenting on new research from Senegal (published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases) about the effectiveness of the nets, insecticide resistance among mosquitos, and levels of immunity to malaria in the population. Professor David Schellenberg from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine discussed the latest data with Peter Goodwin.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Audio News: Low Cost Screening Could Halve Stillbirths Due To Syphilis LONDON—Scientists from London and Switzerland have reported in The Lancet medical journal that a simple ante-natal screening test for syphilis and immediate treatment could halve the number of stillbirths caused by this infection — at very low cost. David Mabey, Professor of Communicable Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine — who wrote the accompanying comment article in The Lancet — talks with Peter Goodwin about the importance of this finding.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Audio News: The New Decade Of Vaccines: Avoiding Public Distrust “Public trust and public confidence in vaccines are vital to keeping immunisation rates up and keeping the value of vaccines real,” according to Heidi Larson of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine who took part in: “The New Decade of Vaccines” a scientific meeting reflecting a series of articles about vaccination in The Lancet medical journal. She explains the importance of addressing public confidence issues to Sarah Maxwell.

Smokers were twice as likely to succeed when they tried to stop smoking if they received supportive text messages while they were trying — that was in a randomised controlled trial with 5 000 volunteer quitters undertaken by scientists in London and Auckland. Dr Caroline Free of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine told Peter Goodwin about her group’s txt2stop study.

ATLANTA—Just before the successful Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) talks took place in London a British scientist was honoured by the United States in Atlanta, Georgia. Professor Brian Greenwood gave the Shepard Lecture on the subject of: Vaccination and Global Health to the Centers for Disease Control. He tells Audio News about the state of the art of vaccination for a range of diseases and the possibility, potentially, of saving millions of lives in the near future.

LONDON—Part of the success of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) talks held in London may have been the availability of new ways of funding vaccines to guarantee their affordability in low and middle-income countries. Dr James Hargreaves of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine tells Sarah Maxwell about “push” and “pull” techniques his group has been looking at to get the biggest “bang for the buck” in vaccine provision for the developing world.

LONDON—Complexity is a big hazard for a humanitarian organisation wanting to intervene in a disaster — whether natural or man-made. So is any lack of political independence. That’s according to a new book “Many Reasons To Intervene” that compares British with French Non-Governmental Organisations — or NGOs. Karl Blanchet of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Editor of the book, explains that British NGOs have a completely different culture from their French counterparts. The book’s ten contributing writer-experts hint at a hopeful role for NGOs in geopolitics, but they warn that more needs to be done to co-ordinate efforts.

LONDON—A new global network of scientists has been set up with the goal of helping all countries control infectious diseases. Instead of focussing on specific illnesses the Research Network For Health Systems And Infection — based at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine — concentrates specifically on improving health-care delivery systems. Mr Greg Reilly and Professor Anne Mills of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine join Professor David Heymann, Chair of the UK Health Protection Agency (and former Representative of the Director-General for Polio Eradication – World Health Organization) to tell Sarah Maxwell about the paramount importance of organising excellent health systems as a pre-requisite for establishing health for all.

LONDON—Evidence and not just opinion and ideology could soon be at the fore of the debates concerning widespread reforms to UK health policy — and by comparison health systems globally — thanks to the new: ‘Lancet UK Policy Matters’ website produced by scientists in London. Katie Cole from The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine explains how they’re gathering evidence from experts and the public on the impact health service policies and reforms have on health outcomes.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Audio News: Migrant Health: A Key Issue For Global Health LONDON—Good health care for the one billion migrants around the world is vital if global health for all is to be achieved and maintained, according to Cathy Zimmerman of the Gender Violence and Health Centre at The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine — author of the first article in a series devoted to Migration And Health in the medical journal: PLoS Medicine, for which she is one of the editors.

BRAZIL—Specialists in public health have been fascinated by the huge progress made in reducing the burden of disease in Brazil, which has now been investigated in a series of articles in the medical journal: The Lancet. Professor Sir Andy Haines of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine discusses the implications of this advance in the health of a nation brought about partly through changes in family and primary healthcare where novel low-cost options have brought big benefits.

THE GAMBIA—The fight against diarrhoeal diseases in the Gambia will soon be fought with the help of scientifically designed latrines capable of trapping and killing flies. Professor Steve Lindsay of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine talks about his group’s project which has just won a $100 000 Grand Challenges Explorations Grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

BRASILIA—Brazil is showing the world how best to improve a nation’s health. This is the impression given by findings published in a special series of articles in The Lancet medical journal documenting progress made in combating infectious disease, chronic disease, HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, and violence and trauma in Brazil. Professor Laura Rodrigues of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine — among the Lancet authors contributing to this series — explains why there’s been a massive reduction of the burden of infectious diseases in Brazil, and emphasises the paramount value of setting up well-organised, equitable health systems as the backbone of health policy.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Audio News: World Malaria Day: Experimental Vaccination Method Brings Immunity LONDON: On World Malaria Day 2011 news was released that an experimental form of vaccination for malaria has given protection against the disease and should help scientists to understand the immune processes which need to be harnessed to achieve effective vaccination. The findings are written up in an article in the medical journal The Lancet by Professor Robert Sauerwein from Nijmegen University in The Netherlands and his colleagues, who report that when volunteers were deliberately infected with malaria while being treated with the prophylactic drug chloroquine they became resistant to subsequent infection 2.5 years later. Audio News hears from Professor Brian Greenwood of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who co-wrote a comment article on this in The Lancet.

LONDON—You can take your imagination for a free journey around the world of tropical medicine and public health in a matter of minutes by visiting the Archives of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Archivists Victoria Cranna and Emma Golding tell Sarah Maxwell how everybody can use this important resource of knowledge and original documents to conduct research — on line, or in person at the School in central London —on a wide range of health matters relating to circumstances near at hand or to situations in the most remote parts of the planet.

SEATTLE—The world is becoming a healthier place — thanks to improved health systems and effective health policies, according to Professor Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. On his return from the Global Health Metrics and Evaluation Conference held in Seattle — simultaneously published in the medical journal The Lancet — he talked with Audio News about some of the interesting research findings discussed, and about identifying amenable areas for improving health and avoiding preventable deaths— especially in low and middle income countries and less accessible regions.

A simple cheap drug, tranexamic acid, should be given as early as possible to road traffic accident victims or to any trauma patient at risk of bleeding to death. The latest research from the CRASH-2 study— published in the medical journal: The Lancet — concludes that many more lives can be saved if the drug is given within one hour of injury. Professor Ian Roberts of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine talks about the findings.

LONDON— At the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine parties, a talk, and an exhibition on World Tuberculosis Day are commemorating the 24th of March 1882 when Robert Koch from Germany announced his discovery of the M.tuberculosis bacterium that causes tuberculosis. Sarah Maxwell hears from Ruth McNerney how the threat from TB still looms in many parts of the developing, and — surprisingly — developed world, and about the need for more research and better diagnostic tests.