Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is gaining traction as an umbrella goal of international health development, championed by the Millennium Development Goals campaign and the United Nations, but despite broad-based support for the principals underlying UHC, the road to implementation as a social policy faces numerous challenges. Pakistan’s health equity fund model, Heartfile Health Financing (HHF), […]
Ghana Health Service: It works
I accompanied GAVI CEO, Dr Seth Berkley, on a joint country visit with Mr. Bill Gates to Ghana two weeks ago. This was Mr Gates first visit with the Ghana Health Service. We spent our first morning on the field, visiting more specifically the Community-based Health Planning and Services initiative’s compound which is part of […]
Brazilian Hearts
It took 12 minutes in a taxi to get to my meeting in Sao Paulo last Thursday. By the evening, the same drive back to my hotel took more than two hours. Alternatives? There aren’t many – limited public transportation, a bus system that would have not provided much of an option, and certainly no […]
Hypertension and the imperative for reducing salt intake
In a recent meeting convened by the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean to discuss the regional agenda for noncommunicable diseases, the crucial role of high salt intake was highlighted. This is quite appropriate considering the emphasis of this year’s World Health Day (held April 7th) on hypertension. Among the leading risk factors in […]
The Hypertension Myth
The whole concept of World Hypertension Day is misguided because it perpetutes an unfortunate myth – it implies that we can deal with “hypertension” (i.e. raised blood pressure) problem through treatment. Based on current knowledge and experiences, reductions in population blood pressure levels will be most efficiently achieved through salt intake reduction and this should […]
AfGH response to the final report of the global Thematic consultation on Health
We welcome the broad consultation organised by the governments of Botswana, Sweden, WHO and UNICEF and congratulate in particular the Task Team for the participatory process and the quality of the consultation. The report reflects well the debates that were held, building on the merits and limits of the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), as […]
Hypertension in South Asian Countries – A growing monster
Asia is a large continent that has undergone pronounced demographic, epidemiologic, and socioeconomic changes in the recent decades. The South Asian countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal) form a large subcontinent within Asia and share geographic boundaries, economic and cultural similarities. It is also home to some of the world’s most populous countries. […]
Do a Death Defying Act: Get your blood pressure checked today!
High Blood Pressure or “Hypertension” in medical terms has been known to be a risk factor for premature death ever since the Actuaries at the New York Metropolitan Insurance Company started keeping a track of blood pressure measurements in their life insurance policy holders over a century ago. Doctors recognized the importance of this simple […]
World Health Day 2013: Hypertension
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of deaths globally, with grave consequences on national economies of low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) in terms of consumption of healthcare resources, and loss of productive life years. 1, 2Uncontrolled hypertension confers the highest attributable risk of disability and mortality from CVD. According to the 2010 Global […]
A Reflection on the World Health Day
The 7th April is World Health Day which marks the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1948 and invites us to reflect on public health in the world. In many European countries, one can hardly look at the status of healthcare without seeing the effects of austerity measures on the […]
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